A Bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Prithviraj Chavan observed that an extra-judicial confession would in normal course be made only to a person in whom the confessor reposes faith and not a passer-by with whom one was recently acquainted.
“Accused had given graphic details of the act committed by him including the role of each of the accused persons and the manner in which they had killed both the deceased. It is rather very difficult to accept that the accused would make an extra judicial confession to a stranger,” the High Court noted.
The Bench thus acquitted the petitioners of charges of murder, causing disappearance of evidence and common criminal intention.
The accused were arrested and charged in 2006 for murdering one Dilshad Khan (who was their cousin) and one Suresh Murav, who used to work in the store that Dilshad was managing while his uncle, the owner, was away.
There was supposedly a history of animosity between Dilshad and the accused, since one of the accused was purportedly in love with Dilshad’s sister, but the family forbade him from marrying her.
Murav was at the shop on the ground floor when the accused reportedly had a disagreement with Dilshad and murdered both Dilshad and Murav on the shop’s mezzanine floor.
The trial court convicted the accused in 2010.
Source: Barandbench
