Presence at the Crime Scene Well Established: Calcutta High Court Upholds Life Sentence in Railway Quarter Murder

“The recovery of the red coloured OPPO mobile phone of the victim and the blue coloured shirt and its button… clearly connects chain of evidence” — Calcutta High Court refused to interfere with the conviction and life sentence imposed on Md. Mobarak and Jakir Sk for the brutal killing of railway employee Hanuman Rai inside his Malda railway quarter. A Division Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Prasenjit Biswas dismissed the appeal, holding that the prosecution’s web of circumstantial evidence was “unbroken” and “consistent only with the guilt of the accused.”

The prosecution case painted a disturbing motive — Mobarak, allegedly trapped in a coerced homosexual relationship with Rai, was being blackmailed with obscene videos. When Rai demanded he procure “a new young boy” for sexual activity, Mobarak decided he had “no other way” but to eliminate him. According to investigators, he roped in his friend Jakir, and together they strangled Rai on 26 October 2020, using both hands and a gamcha. The victim was found naked, bleeding from the mouth and nose, his garments scattered on the floor.

“Digital evidence proves the presence of the accused… their involvement cannot be ruled out” the Court observed, after analysing call data records, subscriber details, and CCTV footage. Telecom nodal officers authenticated under Section 65B of the Evidence Act that the final call to Rai’s number at 12:04 p.m. came from Mobarak’s handset; tower location placed him in the vicinity of the murder scene. The very same OPPO handset was later recovered from Jakir, who had inserted his own SIM and used it until his arrest.

CCTV cameras outside a nearby hotel captured two men walking toward the railway quarters around the relevant time — one wearing a blue shirt. At the scene, police recovered a blue shirt button which forensic analysis matched to a shirt seized from Mobarak’s home. A bite mark on Mobarak’s hand, which he admitted came from Rai during the fatal struggle, further tightened the noose.

The Bench rejected defence arguments that the CCTV showed nothing more than pedestrians on a busy road and that CDRs only reflected calls, not contents. “From the exhibited CCTV footage, it was seen that two boys were going together by the road and one of whom wore a blue shirt with cap on his head and white handkerchief on his face,” the judges noted, adding that the burden had shifted to the accused to explain their proximity to the victim moments before his death.

On the admissibility of the electronic trail, the Court stressed that CDRs and SDRs, when accompanied by the mandatory Section 65B(4) certificate, are reliable evidence. “The digital evidence proves the presence of the accused persons at the place of occurrence at the relevant date and time and their involvement in the commission of offence cannot be ruled out,” the Bench held.

Finding the motive of revenge firmly established, the recovery of incriminating articles lawful, and the chain of circumstances complete, the Court affirmed the trial court’s finding of guilt under Sections 302 and 120B IPC. “On an overall assessment of the entire gamut of evidence, we are of the comprehension that the charges against the appellants stand proved beyond reasonable doubt.” The appeal was dismissed, the convictions and sentences left intact, and the trial court directed to proceed with execution.

Date of Decision: 31/07/2025