Reportable

2026 INSC 223 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Criminal Appeal No………of 2026 [@Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 15378 of 2024]

Sanjay Kumar Sharma ...Appellant Versus State of Bihar & Ors.

...Respondents J U D G M E N T K. Vinod Chandran, J.

Leave granted.

2. Overzealous investigation is as fatal to prosecution as are the lethargic and the tardy. Framing a case on public perceptions and personal predilections ends up in a mess, often putting to peril an innocent and always letting free the perpetrator. Here, we have a case of gruesome death of a couple when their house was gutted in a fire, with the son and daughter-in-law accused of murder. The entire case is founded on motive; the ill-will the son harbored against the father for not having given him his due share in the ancestral Signature Not Verified property. The entire village was against the son and the Digitally signed by DEEPAK SINGH Date: 2026.03.11

16:04:11 IST Reason:

mishap ended in an investigation where truth was sacrificed at the altar of perceived vengeance, ably assisted by the Investigating Officer’s selective but careless pursuits, derailing the entire prosecution.

3. On the earl