Kochi, Aug 20 The Kerala High Court on Thursday acquitted a man sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his wife back in 2013, saying that the prosecution was unable to conclusively prove that the body found by the police was that of his spouse.
A bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar said that the prosecution has not established beyond doubt whether the decomposed dead body found in the case was actually that of the wife of the appellant.
It noted that even though the body, when found, was in an advanced stage of decomposition, no DNA examination was conducted to establish the identity of the deceased.
The bench also noted that neither the woman's father nor the private financier who was acquainted with the couple were asked to identify the body.
"Therefore, the identity of the deceased remains an important and unresolved circumstance in the prosecution case," it said.
It further said that while the circumstances surrounding the recovery of the body and the medical findings may give rise to a reasonable inference that the death was homicidal, the prosecution had to separately and independently establish that the person who died was Lakshmi -- wife of the accused.
"On the evidence presently available, that link has not been established with the degree of certainty required in a case of this nature. The prosecution has also not succeeded in bringing in credible evidence to establish the recovery of the ornaments of the deceased as against the appellant/accused.
"In a case relying solely on the circumstantial evidence, such major lapses would render the case fatal to the prosecution. In view of the discussion above, we hold that the prosecution has failed to prove any of the circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn," the bench said.
The High Court said that it was convinced that the circumstances presented by the prosecution were not of a conclusive nature to prove the guilt of the accused.
"The chain of evidence does not show that within all human probability the act must have been done by the accused and the accused alone. There is paucity of legal evidence to reach the exclusive conclusion regarding the guilt of the appellant," it said.
The High Court allowed the appeal of the accused -- Baldas -- and set aside the finding of guilt, conviction and sentence passed against him by the Additional Sessions Judge-I, Manjeri.
Acquitting him of all charges, the bench directed that he be set at liberty forthwith if his continued incarceration was not required in connection with any other case.
