NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has acquitted a man awarded to death penalty in a sensational case related to 2014 rape and murder of 23-year-old software engineer from Andhra Pradesh in Mumbai.
The apex court held the circumstances relied upon when stitched together do not lead to the sole hypothesis of the guilt of the accused.
Supreme Court Overturns Death Penalty in 2014 Mumbai Rape-Murder Case
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Vishwanathan set free Chandrabhan Sudam Sanap, by allowing his appeal.
In its judgment on January 28, 2025, the court set aside the Bombay High Court's judgment of 2018 which has affirmed the conviction and sentence of death penalty on the appellant.
Having examined the materials in the case, based on circumstantial evidence, the court held it will be extremely unsafe to sustain a conviction against the appellant as the prosecution has not established its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Key Evidence Disputed as SC Clears Accused in Sensational 2014 Murder Case
"There are gaping holes in the prosecution story leading to the irresistible conclusion that there is something more than what meets the eye in this case," the court said.
The bench pointed out while the old adage, witness may lie but not the circumstances, may be correct, however, the circumstances adduced, as held by this court, should be fully established.
The court emphasised there is a legal distinction between ‘may be proved’ and ‘must be or should be proved’ as held by this court.
"We do not find that the chain is so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused," the bench said.
The prosecution claimed the 23-year-old software engineer from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh returned to Mumbai on January 5, 2014, after a Christmas break and got off a train at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) in Mumbai where she was last seen alive.
The victim reached the railway station in suburban Mumbai from her native in Andhra Pradesh after spending some time with her family. It was alleged by the prosecution that at around 5 am, she met Sanap outside the station and he offered to drop her to the YWCA hostel in suburban Andheri, where she stayed, on his motorbike in return for Rs 300. Her body was found in half burnt state after 10 days.
The appellant was arrested in the case on March 2, 2014.
The prosecution claimed the appellant picked up the victim from the railway station on a bike and committed her rape and murder at a secluded place at the service road of Eastern Express Highway near Kanjur Marg.
In 2015, the trial court held Sanap guilty and sentenced him to death for the rape and murder of the woman employed with a leading IT firm in Mumbai. In 2018, the High Court upheld the death sentence and said it did not see any possibility of reform.
In its judgment, the bench, however, said, "we are constrained to come to the sole irresistible conclusion that the appellant is not guilty of the offences for which he has been charged".
The court eschewed the evidence of CCTV footages, and rejected statement of prosecution witnesses and recovery of the victim's articles, as the prosecution could not explain the infirmities.
