Shyamal Ghosh v. State of West Bengal
Supreme Court of India2012 INSC 281; MANU/SC/0544/2012; (2012) 7 SCC 646Bench: J. H.L. Dattu, J. Chandramauli Kumar Prasad
The Supreme Court held that the "last seen together" theory is a piece of circumstantial evidence that creates a logical link in the chain, but it cannot alone be the basis for conviction. The proximity of time between "last seen together" and the discovery of the offence must be very close for the inference of guilt to arise. If other explanations for the events are equally plausible, the "last seen" evidence fails. The prosecution must complete the chain of circumstantial evidence to the degree of moral certainty that excludes every hypothesis other than guilt of the accused.