JUDGMENT

Sethi, J.-Contending that the prosecution had failed to prove the presence of all the appellants and the existence of common object within the meaning of Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, the learned counsel for the appellants has argued that except appellant Manoj Kumar no other accused could be convicted or sentenced for the death of the deceased persons. It is submitted that even if the appellants are proved to be present on spot when the occurrence took place, they cannot be held guilty for the commission of any offence as they were not proved to be sharing any common object but were only by-standers. It has been further argued on behalf of some appellants that the prosecution witnesses being interested were not reliable and the courts below wrongly relied upon their testimony to convict and sentence the appellants.

2. The facts giving rise to the filing of the present appeals are that on 23rd July, 1994 at about 2.00 a.m. the appellants accompanied by 300-400 persons, armed with deadly weapons like guns, attacked the house of Ganesh Singh in Village Amarpur. Bholi Singh was shot dead and Nawlesh Singh, Shiv Narain Singh, Kedar Singh, Sanjay Singh an