SC acquits man sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering mother in 2010
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted a man who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his mother, saying there was a "mystery" surrounding the genesis and origin of the prosecution case.
A bench of Justices K V Viswanathan and K Vinod Chandran set aside a July 2013 order of the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court which upheld his conviction in the 2010 case.
The prosecution alleged that the last rites of the deceased were hurriedly carried out and the body was removed from the pyre after strangulation marks on the neck and an injury on the backside of the skull were found.
The bench observed that the case rests entirely on circumstantial evidence.
"There is a mystery surrounding the genesis and origin of the prosecution case," it said.
It referred to the testimonies of four prosecution witnesses, including some police officers, who all admittedly landed up on the morning of July 22, 2010, at the site of the alleged first cremation attempt.
The bench said on a complete reading of their testimonies, "a lingering doubt still remains in our mind as to why further leads from that time, place and alleged event were not picked up and why no further investigation as to who organised the cremation was carried out".
It said no leads from the crowd gathered there were picked out and nobody was examined in the court.
The bench said the failure to investigate the crowd which had assembled and disbursed at the first alleged attempt at cremating the deceased baffles one's comprehension.
It noted there was no definite medical opinion and in view of the considerable ambiguity in the evidence of the medical expert, death by suicide cannot be said to be completely ruled out.
The bench further noted that the counsel appearing for the appellant contended that during the investigation, police obtained a certificate, dated September 26, 1989, issued by a hospital in Latur which indicated that the deceased was suffering from schizophrenia.
The top court said it was alleged that the appellant murdered his mother for property.
"Having come out with a case of motive, the prosecution has miserably failed to establish the same. It has come on record that the appellant has his father as well as two sisters who are alive," it said.
"It is not as if that the property would, on the death of the deceased, immediately devolve on the appellant in the event of the alleged murder by him going undetected," the bench said.
It said the courts below had fallen into a serious error in convicting the appellant on the basis of the evidence on record.
While allowing the appeal filed by the appellant, the bench acquitted him of all the charges.
The trial court convicted two persons in the case and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The high court upheld the conviction of the appellant while acquitting the other person.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Evading core issue: Siddaramaiah slams Centre on sugarcane FRP in letter to Pralhad Joshi
Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched a sharp attack on the Central Government Saturday, accusing it of "evading the core issue" of the widening gap between cultivation costs and the price realisation for sugarcane, which he stated has pushed lakhs of farmers into distress.
In a detailed, three-page letter to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Siddaramaiah dismantled the Centre's claims on the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP), ethanol blending, and financial support to the state.
The Chief Minister's letter was a direct rebuttal to one he had received from Joshi regarding the "plight of sugarcane farmers in Karnataka."
"Farcical" FRP claims
Siddaramaiah challenged the Centre's announced FRP of ₹355 per quintal at 10.25% recovery, calling the government's claim of a 105.2% margin over production cost "unfortunately, a farce."
"Every farmer in Karnataka knows that since 2014, the cost of fertilizers, labour, transportation, and other inputs have more than doubled," Siddaramaiah wrote. He contrasted this with the FRP, which he stated has increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just 4.47% since 2014, rising from ₹210 to ₹355.
He also pointed out that the FRP was not increased for two consecutive years during the NDA regime, causing an average loss of ₹20 per quintal to farmers. This, he argued, was in stark contrast to the UPA years, when the CAGR for FRP was 12.96%.
The Chief Minister accused the Central Government of "artificially pegging higher" the recovery rate to manipulate the numbers. "While it was 9.5% during UPA, the NDA government raised it to 10.25%, reducing the effective FRP," the letter stated. "On a comparable 9.5% recovery rate, the present FRP is only ₹329 per quintal, making the real growth a meagre 3.8% CAGR. This manipulation of numbers has betrayed the farmers."
Siddaramaiah also refuted the Centre's portrayal of ethanol blending as a "boon" to the sugar sector. He argued that the financial benefits are not being passed on to the farmers.
UPA Era: With ethanol blending below 5% and 9.5% recovery, the FRP recorded a robust CAGR of 12.96%.
NDA Era: With ethanol blending at approximately 20% and 10.25% recovery, the CAGR has "dropped to just 3.8%."
He noted that ethanol supply from Karnataka distilleries has only "marginally" increased from 38 crore litres in 2022-23 to 47 crore litres in 2024-25, despite an installed capacity of 270 crore litres.
The larger question remains unanswered," he wrote, "why has the benefit of ethanol blending not been passed on to the farmers?
The Chief Minister made several demands and accusations:
New MSP mechanism: He urged the Centre to devise a new MSP for sugar that categorises "domestic and commercial consumption separately," so that higher profits from commercial sales are reflected in the price paid to farmers.
Data transparency: Challenging claims that the Centre has provided "substantial financial assistance" to sugar mills, Siddaramaiah demanded the "mill-wise data" of such support in Karnataka to verify if the benefits "have truly reached the intended stakeholders."
Absence of Union Ministers: He expressed disappointment that "none of the Union Ministers from Karnataka attended the meeting held on 7th November 2025," where stakeholders were invited to discuss the issue.
Tax devolution: He accused the Union Government of a "step-motherly attitude," claiming Karnataka has been denied "over ₹2 lakh crore" in its rightful share of tax devolution and grants over the past five years.
Siddaramaiah concluded with a direct appeal to Joshi as a "senior Union Minister from Karnataka" to "stand with the farmers."
"The real measure of governance is not in statistical claims but in the smiles on the faces of farmers," he wrote.
