JUDGMENT

B.N. Agrawal, J.-All the eight respondents were convicted by the trial court under Sections 302/149 of the Penal Code and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. Ayodhya Prasad (respondent No.2) was further convicted under Section 147 of the Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months whereas the other respondents under Section 148 of the Penal Code and each one of them was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one and half years. The sentences, however, were ordered to run concurrently. On appeals being preferred by the respondents, the High Court of Allahabad acquitted them of all the charges.

2. Prosecution case, in short, was that seven months prior to December, 1977, one Sant Saran, father of accused Santosh Kumar, was murdered in which Debi Shanker and Rakesh @ Chhotey, both sons of Devi Din Pandey were made accused in which case bail was granted to both the aforesaid accused persons which infuriated Santosh Kumar. On 20th December, 1977, in the morning, Sushil Kumar (PW 1) came to the house of his maternal grandfather Devi Din Pandey for borrowing oxen to get his plots ploughed and found that his matern