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The State of Himachal Pradesh v. Varinder Verma@Jatti & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1028Decided 17 Sept 2026
Criminal Appeal No. 67 of 2018
Justice Manoj Misra · Justice Vijay Bishnoi

Background

Two men were found dead by a roadside near Gadah Kufri, Himachal Pradesh, in June 2009, with head injuries and broken wooden pieces (Dandas) scattered nearby; both had consumed alcohol shortly before death. The trial court convicted two accused, Varinder Verma and Dev Raj, of murder based on circumstantial evidence, a witness's claim of seeing them with the deceased shortly before the killings, recovery of blood-stained clothes and Dandas, and alleged motive/enmity, sentencing them to life imprisonment. The Himachal Pradesh High Court acquitted both accused on appeal, giving them the benefit of the doubt, and the State appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal, applying the settled rule that a conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence requires a complete chain of proven facts pointing exclusively to guilt, excluding every other reasonable hypothesis. The Court found the prosecution's case riddled with doubt: the key witness who claimed to have seen the accused searching for the deceased with weapons was the deceased's own relative and inexplicably failed to disclose this incriminating fact even when he reached the crime scene within two hours, a delay that seriously undermined his credibility. The recoveries of blood-stained clothes and weapons, made three days after arrest through interested witnesses, appeared "stage-managed," and forensic evidence could not rule out that the deaths resulted from an accidental fall or brawl while intoxicated, since there was no eyewitness to the actual killing. Finding the chain of circumstances incomplete and unreliable, the Court dismissed the State's appeal.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction cannot rest on suspicion or circumstantial links that leave room for an innocent explanation. When key witnesses are interested parties who delay disclosing crucial facts, and forensic evidence is inconclusive, the accused is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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