JUDGMENT

Shivaraj V. Patil, J.-In this appeal, the appellants are assailing the judgment of the High Court by which the order of acquittal passed by the trial court was set aside and they were convicted for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

2. In brief, according to the prosecution, the deceased Kuruva Naganna purchased a house site from one Harijana Madanna and erected a kottam and was running a hotel in it. Appellants 1 and 2 are the neighbours of the deceased. The deceased desired to sell the said site owing to losses sustained by him in running the hotel. Appellants 1 and 2 insisted that he should sell the site to them and threatened him that he should not sell the same to others except them. Thus, there were ill-feelings between the deceased and appellants 1 and 2. On 17.7.1991, while the deceased, PWs 1 and 2, wife and daughter respectively, were in their kottam, the third parties came to see the site in order to purchase it and proposed to come the next day to settle the bargain. Appellants 1 & 2 came there at about 6.00 p.m. and questioned the deceased as to why he proposed to sell the said site t