HC upholds life term of two for murder, victim’s wife acquitted

New Delhi, Nov 01: The Delhi High Court has upheld the life imprisonment of two persons for killing a man and throwing his body in a jungle, while setting aside the trial court's verdict convicting and sentencing the victim's wife.

The court said each chain of the circumstances points towards the involvement of convicts Sachin and Sunil but no substantial legal evidence has come on record against Prabha, the victim's wife.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and I S Mehta upheld the decision of a trial court convicting and sentencing the two men for killing Rakesh.

"The facts are interdependent and leave no room except to show involvement of accused persons in the crime committed. Therefore, we find no merit in appeals of accused Sachin and Sunil, same are dismissed," it said.

"Each chain of the circumstances pin points towards the involvement of appellants Sachin and Sunil," the bench said.

Both the men, who were friends with the woman, were convicted for the offences of murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.

The bench set aside the trial court's verdict convicting and sentencing Prabha to life term and said that she be released from the jail forthwith, if not required in any other case.

The case came to the fore after Rakesh's father lodged a missing persons complaint alleging that his son went to his in-laws' house in south Delhi's Jaitpur on May 7, 2011 to meet his wife, who was living separately due to their strained relation, but did not return the next day.

The police then traced Sachin and Sunil after going through call records of the woman, who was constantly in touch with the two men before the murder, which led to the recovery of Rakesh's bones from a jungle two weeks later, the prosecution had said.

While convicting the three in July 2017, the trial court had noted that the cause of death could not be ascertained but circumstantial evidence established he was killed by the trio.

They were arrested on May 23, 2011 and several items were found during the investigation which proved their guilt, the court had said.

During the trial, they had claimed innocence and said they were falsely implicated.