The Supreme Court in Vaibhav v. State of Maharashtra acquitted a student accused of murdering his friend, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove a complete chain of circumstantial evidence. The case involved the alleged accidental firing of Vaibhav’s father’s revolver, which killed his friend Mangesh. While Vaibhav’s act of hiding the body suggested tampering, the Court held it was not enough to prove murder. Forensic findings supported accidental firing, and no motive was shown. The Court set aside his murder conviction but upheld punishment for destroying evidence, limiting it to time already served.
