SUBHASH AGGARWAL
Vs.
THE STATE OF NCT OF DELHI
( Before : Sudhanshu Dhulia and K. Vinod Chandran, JJ. )
Criminal Appeal No. ….of 2025 (@ Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 1069 of 2025)
Decided on : 17-04-2025
Criminal Law — Circumstantial Evidence — Murder (Filicide) vs. Suicide — In cases based on circumstantial evidence where the question is whether the death was homicidal (filicide) or suicidal, the prosecution must establish a complete chain of circumstances that points exclusively to the guilt of the accused and is inconsistent with any hypothesis of innocence — Conviction upheld where circumstances, including (i) gunshot residue (GSR) found on the accused father’s dominant (right) hand, (ii) the accused being the first to discover the body and propounding a false theory of suicide (by screwdriver), (iii) absence of blood on the alleged suicide weapon (screwdriver), (iv) medical and ballistic evidence indicating a close-range (but not contact) gunshot wound inconsistent with typical suicide patterns (location on chest, weapon not found in hand), (v) false and contradictory explanations by the accused under S. 313 Cr.P.C. regarding the weapon and GSR, formed a complete chain pointing solely to the accused’s guilt. (Relied on: Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra, (1984) 4 SCC 116
