Nazi vs. State (NCT of Delhi)
Background
In 2002, an elderly man was found strangled and smothered to death in his Delhi home in an apparent robbery-turned-murder. The appellant and a co-accused (who died during the appeal) were convicted largely on the testimony of one "chance witness" who said he collided with two distressed-looking men coming out of the victim's house, and later identified them in a police identification parade.
Decision Breakdown
The High Court found the prosecution's case rested almost entirely on circumstantial evidence with major gaps: no items were shown stolen, the alleged weapons were never medically confirmed as the cause of death, and critically, the sole witness never actually testified to seeing the men come out of the house, the trial court had wrongly read that detail into his testimony. Applying the Supreme Court's "complete chain of circumstantial evidence" standard, the High Court held that merely colliding with two distressed strangers near a crime scene could not, by itself, prove guilt. The appeal was allowed and the appellant acquitted.
Lesson Learnt
A conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence requires an unbroken chain pointing exclusively to guilt: a single uncertain "chance encounter" witness, without corroborating physical evidence, is not enough to sustain a conviction, even for murder.