Supreme Court acquits man given death penalty for murder of family members in 2012

The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted a man previously sentenced to death for the 2012 murder of his brother, sister-in-law and their four children, after finding that the prosecution's case was riddled with irreparable inconsistencies [Gambhir Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh].."The fabric of the prosecution case is full of holes and holes which are impossible to mend," observed a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta while acquitting Gambhir Singh.“No plausible evidence has been brought on record by the prosecution to prove the above story so as to establish the motive attributed to the appellant-accused,” the Court observed..In 2012, Singh was arrested along with a woman named Gayatri and a minor for the alleged murder of his brother Satyabhan, sister-in-law Pushpa and their four children over a dispute concerning their ancestral property in Agra.In 2017, a trial court convicted Singh and sentenced him to death while acquitting Gayatri. In 2019, the Allahabad High Court upheld his conviction. Singh then moved the Supreme Court..The Court observed that the prosecution failed to establish Singh's guilt, as key incriminating factors such as motive, last-seen evidence and recoveries were not proven."We further feel that the Public Prosecutor conducting the trial and so also the Presiding Officer of the trial Court were totally remiss while conducting the trial. The evidence of the material prosecution witness in a case involving gruesome murders of six persons including four innocent children was recorded in a most casual and lackadaisical manner, without adhering to the mandatory procedural requirements of the Evidence Act," the Court noted.The Court noted that the investigating officer failed to gather any evidence regarding the safekeeping of recovered articles until they reached the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).It observed that this negligence in the investigation significantly contributed to the prosecution's failure against Singh..The Court observed that the prosecution had failed to establish even one of the three key incriminating circumstances - 'motive,' 'last seen,' and 'recoveries' - to prove the guilt of the appellant-accused.It further noted that even if the recovery of weapons were to be accepted, the FSL report did not confirm the blood grouping found on the weapons, rendering the recoveries inconsequential to the prosecution's case.The Bench further noted that the Allahabad High Court failed to consider these improbabilities and infirmities in the prosecution case."...the impugned judgments do not stand to scrutiny and deserves to be set aside. As a consequence, the conviction of the appellant-accused and death sentence handed down to him can also not be sustained," it added.With these observations, the Court set aside the conviction of Singh. It acquitted him of all charges and directed his immediate release from custody, provided he is not wanted in any other case..Advocates Rakesh Uttamchandra Upadhyay, Aarti U Mishra and Harsh Som appeared for SinghAdvocates Sarvesh Singh Baghel, Sushil Kumar Tomar and Shaurya Krishna appeared for the respondents. .[Read Judgment]