Santosh @ Rajesh @ Gopal vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Santosh @ Rajesh @ Gopal under Sections 302 IPC and 34 IPC, emphasizing that circumstantial evidence must form a complete chain excluding all hypotheses of innocence. The Court reiterated the 'golden rules' for circumstantial evidence established in Sharad Birdhichand Sharda v. State of Maharashtra, which require that the evidence must be consistent with guilt and exclude any reasonable doubt. The Court found that the ballistic evidence linking the recovered pistol to the victim's death was sufficient to affirm the conviction.