Judgment

Nanavati, J.-Both these appeals arise out of the common judgment passed by the court of Additional Designated Court-II, Delhi. Suleman and Chiman are the appellants in Criminal Appeal No. 627/98 and Sadhu Ram is the appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 750/98. The three appel­lants alongwith two others were tried for the offences punishable under Sections 399 and 402 IPC and Section 5 of the TADA Act. The three accused who were alleged to be in possession of knives were further charged under Section 25 of the Arms Act. The allegation against the appellants and the other accused was that they were planning to commit a dacoity and for that purpose they had assembled in Sarup Nagar Dharamshala with arms and ammunitions.

2. In order to prove its case, the prosecution had examined P.W. 2-Head Constable Chand Singh, P.W. 3-Rampal Sharma and P.W. 6-S.I. Om Prakash. The prosecution had also led evidence to prove that the seized articles were kept in proper custody and that the two fire arms were examined by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory. Relying upon the evidence of P.Ws. 2, 3 and 6, the designated Court held that all the five accused had assembled in the Dharamashala at Saru