JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-These criminal appeals are filed by the convicted accused persons against the judgment of the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam dated 7th November, 2001 whereby the High Court confirmed the sentence imposed on these appellants by the trial court under Sections 302 and 324 read with Section 149 IPC. Since particulars of the punishment imposed on other accused is not relevant for the purpose of considering these appeals, we will not advert to it unless necessary in any particular context. The appellants before us are A-1 to A-3 before the trial court.

2. The prosecution case is that Yugine @ Sajiv and others, some of whom were prosecution witnesses in this case, were active followers of the Indian National Congress Party. The accused were stated to be followers of Communist Party of India (Marxist). It is stated that at about 3 p.m. on 1.10.1991, 44 accused entered into a criminal conspiracy to commit the murder of Yugine (deceased), Jose (PW-2) and others as also to commit dacoity and mischief in the houses of the followers of Congress-I. In pursuance of that common object, at about 4 p.m. on 1.10.1991 the accused formed themselves into members of an unlaw