Supreme Court of India|Friday, 20 February 2026
SC Upholds Conviction of Neelu @ Nilesh Koshti for Murder in Archana @ Pinki Case
Bench
PK
Prashant Kumar Mishra
Prashant Kumar Mishra
SC Upholds Conviction of Neelu @ Nilesh Koshti for Murder in Archana @ Pinki Case (2026) held that The conviction based on circumstantial evidence requires a complete chain of circumstances that do not leave room for the innocence of the accused.
Neelu @ Nilesh Koshti was convicted for the murder of Archana @ Pinki and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Additional Sessions Judge and the High Court of Madhya Pradesh upheld this conviction. The case involved the abduction and subsequent murder of Archana, with ransom demands made to her husband. The conviction was primarily based on circumstantial evidence, including the recovery of the victim's body and the appellant's involvement in the crime. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, affirming the lower courts' decisions.
The conviction based on circumstantial evidence requires a complete chain of circumstances that do not leave room for the innocence of the accused.
The prosecution must establish that the circumstances are consistent only with the hypothesis of the accused's guilt, excluding all other possibilities.
The identification of the victim's body and the recovery of the mobile phone used for ransom were critical pieces of evidence supporting the conviction.
Deceased Archana @ Pinki went missing
Missing report filed by Bhagwati Bai
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Body of Archana recovered based on appellant's disclosure
High Court dismissed the appeal
Final judgment delivered by the Supreme Court
