The Supreme
Court in a recently decided case of “Shanti Devi vs. State of Rajasthan” [CRIMINAL
APPEAL NO. 954 OF 2005] reiterated the settled principle of circumstantial
evidence, as per following:
“The principles can be set out as under:
(i)
The
circumstances from which an interference of guilt is sought to be proved must
be conjointly or firmly established.
(ii)
The
circumstances should be of a definite tendency unerringly pointing towards the
guilt of the accused.
(iii)
The
circumstances taken cumulatively must form a chain so complete that there is no
escape from the conclusion that with an all human probability, the crime was
committed by the accused or none else.
(iv)
The
circumstances should be incapable of explanation on any reasonable hypothesis,
same that of the guilt of the accused.” [Para 8]