Man last seen with deceased does not prove he killed him

A person last seen with a deceased should not be held guilty of murder without substantial corroborative and substantive evidence, the Bombay high court observed, while setting aside a life imprisonment sentence.

A division bench of Justice DD Sinha and Justice RG Ketkar acquitted Khandu Londhe, who has been in custody for the last eight years.

On April 11, 1999, Jaising Narawade filed a complaint that his brother Kaluram was missing. His body was found near a river with injuries on the head and face.

The police filed a charge-sheet against Londhe and two others and arrested them.

During the trial, the prosecution heavily relied on the testimony of two witnesses, who had last seen the deceased with Londhe on day he went missing. Advocate Murtuza Najmi appearing for Londhe, argued:  “Evidence of the last seen witnesses is inadequate to bring home the guilt of the convict.”

After going through the evidence, the division bench said: “At the outset, we would like to express that the evidence of last seen is a weak type of evidence and, therefore, unless it is corroborated by other evidence, it is difficult to award the conviction only on the basis of the evidence of last seen.”

“There is a huge gap of more than 12 hours when the deceased was last seen with the appellant and the finding of body. Only on the basis of uncorroborated testimony of two witnesses, the prosecution failed to bring home the guilt of the accused,” the court said before directing Londhe’s immediate release.