The case of Thammineni Bhaskar v. State of Andhra Pradesh came before the Supreme Court after the appellant, Bhaskar, had been convicted by both the Trial Court and the High Court for offences of murder under Section 302 of the IPC, kidnapping under Section 364, and destruction of evidence under Section 201.
He had been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined, but he challenged the conviction before the Supreme Court. The background of the case traces back to Nellore, where the deceased, Bhoominadhan, worked as an auto driver. His family had earlier lodged a complaint against Bhaskar and his friends for misbehaving with women in the locality, and this had created tension between the two sides. A few days later, on 26 March 2016, Bhoominadhan was allegedly dragged into an auto by Bhaskar and his companions while he was near a banyan tree. The next day, his body was discovered near a reservoir with multiple injuries. His father identified the body, and the police altered the FIR to include charges of murder.
The prosecution mainly relied on two key witnesses (PW-5 and PW-6), who initially told the police that they saw the deceased being dragged and beaten by the accused. However, when their statements were recorded in court, both witnesses retracted and said they only noticed some disturbance under the banyan tree but could not identify the people involved.
This meant that the claim of kidnapping and the “last seen together” theory was not proved.
The defence argued that the conviction rested solely on weak circumstantial evidence, while the State contended that motive and other factors were enough to sustain it.
The Supreme Court, however, held that mere past enmity could not replace concrete proof. It emphasised that in cases based on circumstantial evidence, the “five golden principles” of proof must be fully satisfied, and in this case, they were not. Since there was no direct evidence or reliable testimony to establish that Bhaskar had kidnapped or killed Bhoominadhan, the Court ruled that both the Trial Court and the High Court had misread the evidence and wrongly convicted him. Accordingly, Bhaskar was acquitted of all charges and ordered to be released immediately, unless required in another case
Case Details:
- Case Law: THAMMINENI BHASKAR V. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
- CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 4623 OF 2024
- Citation: 2025 INSC 1124
- Judgement Date: 17th September 2025
- Bench: Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Prasanna B. Varale
Click HERE for read full Judgment
Written By: Kavin Kumaraswamy
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