JUDGMENT

Thomas, J.-The killers of an advocate s clerk arranged a funeral pyre by themselves and cremated the victim in the sight of his bereaved widow and son. Police charge-sheeted six persons including the appellants for those acts. But the Sessions Court acquitted them all. As the High Court reversed the order of acquittal as against the appellants and convicted them for murder they filed this appeal as of right under Section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short the Code ). We heard detailed arguments of Shri Uday Umesh Lalit, Advocate for the appellants and Ms. Anjali Doshi, Advocate for the State of Rajasthan.

2. Munshi Singh was an advocate s clerk who was murdered in the vicinity of his own house by using a pistol and other lethal weapons at about 7 P.M. on 29.6.1981. The prosecution case is the following :

3. Appellant Hukam Singh (who was ranked as A. 1 in the trial Court) and his brother Harnam Singh (A. 5) and the latter s sons Jaswant Singh (A. 2) and Balwant Singh (A. 4) had some axe to grind against deceased Munshi Singh. On the evening of the fateful day Munshi Singh alighted from a bus near his house and was proceeding to his house. His son Bhupender Pal