Karnataka high court gives doctor benefit of doubt, acquits him of wife’s murder

BENGALURU: Seven years after he was held guilty of murdering his wife over his alleged relationships and sentenced to life term in jail, a Jewargi-based doctor has been acquitted by the high court. The court said the statement of the woman’s relatives and friends were never put to test though they were interested parties and the prosecution too failed to establish his extramarital affairs.
Though circumstantial evidence itself is enough to form the basis for conviction, the circumstances must be conclusive in nature and there shouldn’t be any missing link, a division bench of Justices Sreenivas Harish Kumar and Mohammed Nawaz said, while acquitting Siddaling, now 35 years old.
Siddaling and Manjula married in 2008 and have a son. Manjula was found dead on May 19, 2010 in what was initially described as a road accident. Following a complaint from her sister, police arrested Siddaling and his three associates for allegedly murdering his wife.
The prosecution alleged that Siddaling decided to kill Manjula after she repeatedly quarrelled with him over his alleged relationships with other women. Manjula’s brother and sister and another friend gave evidence that she had spoken to them about her husband’s affairs as well as his ill-treatment.
It was also alleged that Siddaling bought an LIC insurance policy for Rs 2 lakh seven months before her death, with an intention to pay Rs 50,000 each from the amount to the other accused.
The prosecution claimed that on May 19, 2010, Manjula was going with her husband and two other accused in a Tata Indica car along Jewargi-Sindagi road. At 10pm, the vehicle was stopped near Nelogi on the pretext of a tyre puncture and the accused attacked her with iron rods. Thereafter, the fourth accused driving a Cruiser jeep rammed the vehicle into the Indica to make it appear that Manjula died in an accident.
The 1st additional sessions judge, Kalaburagi on February 10, 2012 convicted Siddaling and acquitted the other three accused. Relying on the statements of two relatives and a friend of Manjula, the trial court said there was strong motive for Siddaling to kill his wife and awarded him life imprisonment.
However, the high court felt the evidence placed by the prosecution couldn’t establish beyond reasonable doubt that Siddaling was guilty as there were no independent witnesses to support the charges.