Supreme Court upholds acquittal of woman, alleged lover in husband's murder case

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the acquittal of a woman, her alleged lover and another man accused of murdering her husband. [State of Maharashtra v. Monika Kiran Suryawanshi & Ors.]

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prasanna B Varale dismissed appeals filed by the Maharashtra government challenging a Bombay High Court judgment acquitting the deceased's wife Monika Kiran Suryawanshi, her lover Prakash Patil and Patil's friend Dnyaneshwar Mahale, on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy.

The Court agreed with the High Court that the prosecution had failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence linking the accused to the crime.

It found that the motive remained unproved, the "last seen" theory was unreliable, the call records did not support the prosecution's case, and there were serious lapses in the investigation, including the failure to properly preserve recovered articles.

"The chain of circumstances is broken, and the hypothesis of guilt is not exclusively established," the Bench observed.

The case arose from the murder of ICICI Bank employee Kiran Suryawanshi in February 2007.

According to the prosecution, Kiran had married Monika in 2001 in a love marriage, and the couple had a daughter.

It was alleged that Monika had developed an extramarital relationship with her neighbour Prakash Patil. The prosecution claimed that Patil, along with his friends Dnyaneshwar Mahale and Deepak Patil, conspired with Monika to eliminate Kiran.

It was further alleged that Monika administered sedative tablets and injections to Kiran before attacking him with a grinding stone. His body was then wrapped in a plastic bag and bed sheet, following which Prakash and Dnyaneshwar attempted to dispose off the body on a motorcycle borrowed from a friend.

However, a police constable intercepted the motorcycle after noticing a suspicious bundle.

On closer inspection, he found a human foot protruding from it. When questioned, the two men disclosed that the bundle contained Kiran's body.

As per the prosecution, Prakash used his mobile phone to alert Monika about their detention. Police then brought her to the scene.

After an FIR was registered, all three accused were arrested.

During the investigation, the police recovered the alleged murder weapon and other incriminating articles.

After the police filed a chargesheet, the case was committed to the sessions court at Dhule for trial.

The prosecution examined 26 witnesses, following which the trial court convicted Monika, Prakash and Dnyaneshwar of murder, criminal conspiracy and causing the disappearance of evidence.

In 2010, the Bombay High Court acquitted the three of the charges of murder and criminal conspiracy after holding that the prosecution had failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence.

It nevertheless upheld the conviction of Prakash and Dnyaneshwar under Section 201 (causing the disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Aggrieved by this, the State of Maharashtra approached the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court and reiterated that in cases resting entirely on circumstantial evidence, the prosecution must establish a complete and unbroken chain of circumstances pointing only to the guilt of the accused while excluding every other reasonable hypothesis.

Citing its landmark decision in Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra, the Bench said each incriminating circumstance must be conclusively proved before a conviction can be sustained.

"We find that the High Court correctly applied this standard in identifying vital lacunae, infirmities, and deformities in the prosecution's case," the Bench observed.

Hence, the Court upheld the acquittal of Monika, Prakash and Dnyaneshwar of the charges of murder and criminal conspiracy.

It, however, upheld the conviction of Prakash and Dnyaneshwar under Section 201 of the IPC after finding that they had been caught red-handed while attempting to dispose of the deceased's body.

Since both had already undergone the one-year sentence imposed on them, their release, as directed by the High Court, required no interference, the Court held.

Senior Advocate Sanjay Kharde appeared for the State of Maharashtra.

Senior Advocate Vinay Navare appeared for Monika Kiran Suryawanshi.

[Read Judgment]