Case: Ravi and Ors Vs. State of Karnataka

The prosecution case rests entirely on three circumstances which have been set out by the High Court as follows:(i) The deceased borrowed loan and he did not return and decamped from Ramanagaram(ii) The deceased is in the company of A1 and A2 as spoken to by PW1 and PW2; and(iii) The report of the Doctor suggests that the death is homicidal3. The accused Appellants and the deceased along with Suma (PW1) and Rama Nayak (PW2) were together on 26th December, 2004, the precise time being around 1.30 p.m. The dead body was recovered after a gap of four (04) days i.e. on 30th December, 2004. The post-mortem report indicated that the death had occurred 30 hours prior to the time of post-mortem examination. The medical evidence, therefore, would be suggestive of the fact that the dead-body was recovered after about two (02) days from 1.30 p.m. of 26th December, 2004.

Court's reasoning:
4. "Last seen together" is certainly a strong piece of circumstantial evidence against an accused. However, as it has been held in numerous pronouncements of this Court, the time-lag between the occurrence of the death and when the accused was last seen in the company of the deceased has to be reasonably close to permit an inference of guilt to be drawn. When the time-lag is considerably large, as in the present case, it would be safer for the Court to look for corroboration. In the present case, no corroboration is forthcoming. In the absence of any other circumstances which could connect the accused Appellants with the crime alleged except as indicated above and in the absence of any corroboration of the circumstance of last seen together we are of the view that a reasonable doubt can be entertained with regard to the involvement of the accused Appellants in the crime alleged against them.