Supreme Court Acquits Four in 2001 Odisha Murder, Finds Identification and Circumstantial Chain Unreliable

The Supreme Court has acquitted four men convicted of a 2001 murder in Odisha, holding that the prosecution failed to establish guilt through either dependable eyewitness evidence or a complete chain of circumstances.

Background

The prosecution case concerned the killing of Dhruba Pradhan after a group allegedly searched for and intercepted him at night. Six accused were convicted by the trial court, while the High Court later discarded the eyewitness identification because the incident occurred in pitch-dark conditions.

Legal issue and Court's reasoning

Despite rejecting the identification evidence, the High Court sustained the convictions on circumstantial evidence. Four surviving convicts challenged that conclusion before the Supreme Court.

The Bench found that once the direct identification evidence was treated as unreliable, the remaining circumstances had to independently form an unbroken chain pointing only to the guilt of the accused. That standard was not met.

Result and practical consequence

The Court also considered the defence submissions regarding contradictions in witness accounts, absence of independent witnesses despite the alleged presence of numerous villagers, and lack of recovery at the instance of the appellants.

Finding reasonable doubt in the prosecution case, the Supreme Court set aside the convictions and acquitted the four appellants.