JUDGMENT

Shah, J.-These appeals as filed by convicted accused wherein it is alleged that accused belong to Congress party and deceasd No. 1- Kengegowda belonged to Janata Party and was the Pradhan of Karimuddenhalli. Deceased No. 2 - Govindegowda was the younger brother of Kengegowda and he was President of the Milk Producers Co-operative Society and both were leaders of Janata Party. During the elections to the Mandal Panchayat in the year 1988, Kengegowda was elected to the Panchayat. Because of the said elections, disputes including criminal cases were pending in the Court. It is the prosecution story that on 02.5.1989 at about 5.30 p.m. deceased Kengegowda alongwith witnesses was sitting near Srikantachar s shop and was chitchatting. At a distance of 8.10 ft. other witnesses were also sitting and chitchatting. That is, in all deceased Kengegowda, PW1 to PW6, CW5 and CW8 were present at the scene of offence. At that time, A1 to A3 followed by another 20 to 25 accused came running to the direction from the house of A12 holding choppers, clubs and stones etc. They all came in a group. As the aforesaid witnesses were about to get up, A1 to A3 assaulted deceased Kengegowda by chopper, A4 and A5 assaulted him with clubs and other accused assaulted PW1 to PW6. They are all named and identified by the injured witnesses. It is also the say of the prosecution that after assaulting the deceased-Kengegowda and the witnesses, accused left and ran away from the place of offence towards the house of A12. Thereafter, they got information from PW9, son of hte deceased Govindegowda, that his father was assaulted by the accused and that accused have chopped his legs and hands and he was lying near the High School ground. This information was sent at Police Station, which is 18 kms. away from the village. It is the say of PW 29, Police Sub-Inspector that a telephonic message was received at about 6.30 p.m. that some miscreants have assaulted Kengegowda and Govindegowda. On receipt of the said message, PW29 alongwith police constable reached the village at 7.00 p.m. and found deceased Nos. 1 & 2 lying on different spots and they were alive at that time. He also found PWs 1 to 6 and 9, who were injured. After recording the statement of PW1, he sent deceased and PW3 to the hospital for treatment. Thereafter, PW32 Inspector of Police came to the spot and recorded the statement of PWs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9 and after recording their statements they were sent to hospital for treatment. After recording the FIR, copy was sent to the Jurisdictional Magistrate, Which reached him at 1.00 a.m. on 3.5.1999. Investigating Officer received the message on 3.5.1999 that the deceased have died. After completing the investigation, charge sheet was submitted and after committal SC No. 87/89 was tried by the Principal Sessions Judge, Mysore. The Learned Principal Sessions Judge by his judgment and order dated 16th December, 1993 convicted the appellants accused No. 1 to 22 for the offences punishable under Sections 148, 324, 326, 341 and 302 read with section 149 of IPC for murder of Kengegowda. he acquitted accused Nos. 23 to 29. For second incident of murder, the learned Principal Sessions Judge arrived at the conclusion that there is a very strong suspicion regarding participation of the accused in commission of murder of Govindegowda. But after appreciating the evidence, the Court held that the prosecution has failed to prove the second incident which occured near High School on Gaddige road.

2. Against the said judgment and order, the convicted accused preferred Criminal Appeal No. 185/1994 and the State preferred Criminal Appeal No. 494/1994 against the acquittal of accused Nos. 23 to 29. The High Court by its judgment and order dated 24th July, 1996 dismissed both the appeals. That judgment and order is challenged in these appeals by the convicted accused.

3. The learned Principal Sessions Judge has appreciated the entire evidence in great detail. The High Court