Supreme Court acquits death row convict in 2012 Pune triple murder case

The Supreme Court on Thursday acquitted a death-row convict in connection with a triple-murder that took place in Pune in 2012. (Vishwajeet Kerba Masalkar v. State of Maharashtra)

A Bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan noted that the case was based on circumstantial evidence.

"Since it is a case of circumstantial evidence where the prosecution has failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, we have allowed the appeal."

The verdict was passed in the convict's challenge to a July 2019 Bombay High Court ruling that upheld the death sentence awarded to him for the murder of his mother, wife and two-year-old daughter in 2012.

A Pune trial court had convicted him and imposed the death penalty in 2016.

The top court had admitted the appeal in January 2020, and reserved its verdict on September 25 this year.

The accused was found guilty of killing his family members in 2012, allegedly after they raised objections over an extra-marital affair he was having with his colleague.

Following the murder, the convict had informed the police that his mother, wife and child had been killed during a theft that had taken place in his house.

However, during the course of the investigation, the police found his version of events improbable, particularly given that there was no evidence of any item in the house having been stolen, nor any sign of forced entry. Moreover, the police found it suspicious that the old man residing in the neighbouring flat had sustained injuries.

The police eventually found that the accused himself had injured his old neighbour to prevent him from complaining about the murder. 

The High Court found it to be a cold-blooded murder and thus confirmed the death sentence imposed by the lower court, finding that the case falls under the "rarest of the rare" category.

However, it had stayed its ruling pending the disposal of the appeal by the top court, in view of Section 415(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Before the Supreme Court, Advocates Payoshi Roy, K Paari Vendhan, Siddhartha, S Prabu Ramasubramanian, Bharathimohan M, Santhosh K, P Ashok and Manoj Kumar A appeared for the convict.

Advocates Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, Bharat Bagla, Sourav Singh, Aditya Krishna, Preet S Phanse, Adarsh Dubey and Yamini Singh appeared for the State of Maharashtra.