JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.-By the impugned judgment a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court altered the conviction of the respondents (hereinafter referred to as the accused ) from Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the IPC ) to Section 326 IPC. The State of Andhra Pradesh has questioned legality of the judgment.

2. Background facts as culled out from the judgment of the trial Court and the High Court are essentially as follows:

The accused are residents of Pamarru village and they are close associates. A-1 and A-2 are brothers, A-4 is wife of A-2 and A-3 is Sarpanch of Pamarru village. One Dandipati Gangi Reddy (hereinafter referred to as the deceased ) was also a resident of Pamarru. PW-1 Lakshmi Reddy is his brother, PW-2 Chandra Sekhara Reddy, is his son. One Bommareddy Venkata Reddy is maternal uncle of PW-1 Lakshmi Reddy and the deceased, A-1 and A-2 are sons of one Suramma, who is sister of wife of Bommareddy Venkata Reddy, namely Bullemma, who was not in good terms with her husband and they had no issue. Bommareddy Venkata Reddy was having 18 acres of land and house sites. Bullemma insisted that her husband should give their property to her sist