JUDGMENT

B.N. Agrawal, J.-The six appellants along with three other accused persons, namely, Ramineni Gopalarao, Ala China Subba Rao and Kallikonda Venkateswarlu were convicted by the trial court under Sections 302/149 and each of them was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three months. They were further convicted under Section 148 of the Penal Code and each one of them was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. Appellant nos. 2 and 3, namely, Nallamekala Venkateswarlu and Gogasani Ramaiah, who were also charged under Section 506 of the Penal Code, were acquitted of the same. All the sentences were, however, ordered to run concurrently. On appeals being preferred before Andhra Pradesh High Court, convictions and sentences of the appellants have been confirmed whereas the three accused persons referred to above have been acquitted of the charges levelled against them.

2. Prosecution case, in short, is that the accused persons as well as members of the prosecution party were residents of village Kovelamudi within the district of Guntur and the deceased was al