Citation: 2026 INSC 935. Criminal Appeal Nos. 1434–1438 of 2017 Supreme Court of India. Bench: Justice J. B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran. Date of Judgment: September 1, 2026
Dhrub Singh Etc. v. The State of Bihar relates to criminal appeals against the conviction of several accused individuals for a daylight murder alleged to have occurred on an election day. The Supreme Court allowed the appeals and acquitted the accused, holding that the prosecution failed to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt due to unreliable and contradictory eyewitness testimonies, a complete lack of proper investigative rigor (such as missing weapon and cartridge recoveries, unanalyzed blood-stained earth, and inverted procedures like performing the inquest before recording the First Information Statement), and medical evidence that directly contradicted the eyewitness accounts.
On an election day, a man and his companions—including his son, an employee, and a relative—were walking toward their fields when a group of accused individuals allegedly ambushed them. According to the prosecution, the attackers opened indiscriminate gunfire, resulting in a fatal bullet wound to the victim’s back, after which the assailants fled when a magistrate’s patrolling car arrived.
Six accused individuals were initially convicted by the trial court for murder and related offenses. However, the Supreme Court ultimately set aside these convictions and acquitted them. The Court found the prosecution’s case deeply flawed due to severe inconsistencies in the related eyewitnesses’ accounts, a lack of basic investigative evidence (such as unrecovered weapons, missing cartridges, and untested blood-stained earth), and medical evidence from the doctor that directly contradicted how the eyewitnesses claimed the shooting took place.
