JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.-These four appeals relate to a common judgment passed by a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, whereby three appeals filed by the accused-appellants and one by the State were disposed of. While the accused-appellants challenged their conviction under Section 304 Part I read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short IPC ), State had taken the stand that accused-appellants should have been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and the two accused who had been acquitted by the trial court should have also been convicted. The appeals filed by the accused-appellants were dismissed and the appeal filed by the State was partially allowed by converting sentence to Section 302 IPC.

2. Prosecution version sans unnecessary details as unfolded during trial was as follows: Accused No.4 Babu Jani @ Majid Khan @ Majid was an ex-employee of Hazi Mohd. Yakub (hereinafter referred to as deceased ), who had five textile wholesale shops, which he was running along with his sons and grandsons. Accused Babu Jani joined hands with city dossier criminals, namely, Abdul Waheed Khan @ Waheed (accused No.1), Mohd. Haneef@ Haneef (accu