Circumstantial evidence and Section 106: unexplained disappearance after last seen together completed the chain and sustained conviction.

Where a murder case rests on circumstantial evidence, the Court held that the accused's failure to explain facts especially within his knowledge can add an important link under Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act. The medical and surrounding evidence showed homicidal strangulation, the deceased had last been seen with the accused, the house was found locked, the bodies were recovered from inside, and the accused remained untraceable until arrest. Although the extra-judicial confession and alleged recoveries were rejected as unreliable, the remaining circumstances formed a complete chain. The acquittal was set aside, the conviction restored, and the sentence modified to life imprisonment.

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Issues: Whether the acquittal could be interfered with on the basis of circumstantial evidence where the deceased was last seen with the accused, the house was found locked, the accused gave no explanation of his whereabouts, and the circumstances were sufficient to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Analysis: The medical evidence established that the deaths were homicidal by strangulation. The evidence further showed that the accused was last seen with the deceased on 3 February 1998, the house remained locked on the following days, the bodies were recovered from inside the house, and the accused was not traceable until his arrest on 17 February 1998. The prosecution case also stood on the accused's failure to explain the facts especially within his knowledge. In a case resting on circumstantial evidence, the failure to offer a plausible explanation for the period when the accused was last seen with the deceased and thereafter disappeared can furnish an additional link in the chain of circumstances under the principle embodied in Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The evidence of extra-judicial confession and the alleged recoveries were not accepted as reliable, but the remaining circumstances formed a complete chain.

Conclusion: The acquittal was set aside, the accused was held guilty of the murders, and the conviction was restored with the sentence modified to imprisonment for life.

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