According to the prosecution, the duo had murdered their co-worker and brother Veniram on May 17, 2000. The police said that the three worked for a building contractor in Pune and on the day of the incident they worked till late and and slept at the bungalow they were working at. The other morning when the guard of the bungalow, Mallesh Kamble, went inside the house he found Veniram’s body in a pool of blood. The other two were not found any where in the surrounding. Kamble immediately informed the police and a case of accidental death was registered.

After the post mortem report, a case of murder was registered. Acting on the information by Kamble and their employer, the police launched a manhunt against the accused and arrested them from Rajasthan on May 25, 2000. Since then the duo was in custody.

Seven witnesses were examined during the trial and the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Pune sessions court after they were proved guilty. However, the High Court bench after going through the evidence observed that “there is no eyewitness in the case. Entire prosecution story depends upon the circumstantial evidence. There is no direct evidence to the actual commission of crime.”

Discarding Kamble’s statement as the evidence, the High Court observed, “The whole conviction is based upon the evidence by Kamble, who is alleged to have seen both the accused and the victim together on May 17, 2000 around 8 pm. The evidence of this witness, if taken note of independently, is itself not sufficient to convict the accused.”