HC acquits 13 in 1996 Karpi murder case, slams police

The Patna High Court on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, acquitted all 13 people who were serving life imprisonment in the 1996 Karpi quadruple murder case, criticising the police investigation as negligent. A division bench of Justices Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Kumar Manish said the prosecution failed to prove the identity and involvement of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

The court noted the absence of blood-soaked soil, empty cartridges, a test identification parade, forensic evidence and post-mortem reports from the trial, calling these lapses reflective of a compromised investigation. The Times of India reports the bench cited English jurist William Blackstone's principle that it is better for guilty persons to escape than for an innocent person to suffer, while The Hindu reports the court remarked that in an adversarial system hundreds of culprits may go free but one innocent cannot be hanged.

The court directed the Bihar DGP to form a three-member committee to review the negligence and take administrative action within three months. It also ordered the state home department to inform the court within a month about its policy for reviewing failed prosecutions. The accused were ordered to be released immediately unless wanted in another case.