Court convicts man in 2016 murder case, says not establishing motive won’t weaken case

New Delhi, Sep 16 (PTI) A court here has convicted a man in a 2016 murder case, saying that the prosecution’s case was not weakened by not establishing the motive of the crime as the complete chain of circumstances proved the guilt of the accused.

Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Pahuja was hearing the case against Bhan Singh alias Bhanu, who was accused of murdering Dedu alias Kabadi by hitting him with a spade on October 29, 2016.

According to the prosecution, the accused was last seen drinking with the deceased in his rented room in a south Delhi locality.

In an order passed on September 13, the court said that the prosecution had successfully established the circumstances proving the accused’s guilt.

These circumstances were that the deceased was last seen with the accused, fleeing of the accused from the scene of the crime, the spot of the incident being occupied by the accused, the victim’s homicidal death, with the postmortem report attributing the reason for death as blunt force trauma and recovery of the weapon of the offence — a spade — with the deceased’s blood on it.

It, however, said that the prosecution could not establish the motive for the crime.

“In the cases based on circumstantial evidence, the existence of motive forms an important part of the chain of circumstantial evidence and assumes great significance,” the court said.

“However, if the evidence is clear and unambiguous and the circumstances prove the guilt of the accused, the same is not weakened even if the motive is not established,” it said.

The failure to prove the motive is not fatal as a matter of law. In the instant case, though motive could not be established by the prosecution, the complete chain of circumstances have been duly established by the prosecution witnesses, the court said.

The facts established on record were consistent only with the hypothesis of the accused’s guilt.

“The circumstances, as proved by the prosecution, are conclusive in nature and there is no scope of probability. In the considered view of this court, the aforesaid circumstances are sufficient to form a complete chain which unerringly points towards the guilt of the accused,” the judge said while convicting Bhanu of murder.

The court has posted the matter for filing of the mandatory documents, including the assets and income affidavit of the accused and the prosecution’s expenses, on September 24, following which the arguments on sentencing will be heard.