Shivaji chintappa patil Vs. State of Maharashtra, Air 2021 Sc 1249

The court laid down certain guidelines which must be followed before a case against an accused can be fully established:

(a) circumstances from which conclusion of guilt is drawn must be established fully,

(b) there should be consistency between the facts established and the hypothesis of guilt of the accused,

(c) the circumstances must be conclusive in nature,

(d) all possible hypothesis except the one to be proved must be eliminated,

(e) the chain of evidence must be complete as to there can be no reasonable ground for a conclusion pointing the innocence of the accused, showing that in all possibility, the accused has performed the act.