Judgment:

DAS GUPTA, J: On June 4, 1960, eight boys, (1) Munna son of Manohar Lal; (2) Ram Prakash son of Ram Baboo; (3) Laxmi son of Vidya Ram; (4) Pooran son of Gulab Chand; (5) Kedar son of Ram Kumar; (6) Mohan son of Banke Lal; (7) Suresh son of Chandra Shekhar and (8) Jagdish son of Mitthan Lal, all of Dholpur City went to the temple of Mangal Bharti for a picnic. None of them returned home. On the morning of June 6, all these boys were found dead near a well in Gundaria forest. Each of the bodies bore numerous injuries, which according to the evidence of the doctor, who held the post mortem examination, caused the deaths. Seven of the bodies were found naked; only the dead body of Munna had clothes on. The hands of each were tied from behind with ribbons of their trousers and their mouths were found gagged. Watches and rings, bottons and currency notes, which some of these boys had with them had disappeared.

(2) The four appellants, viz., Nand Kumar, Brij Kishore alias Kalua, Lakhan and Murari along with one Jagdish were all convicted for the murder of these eight boys under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code and were all sentenced to death. All of them were also convicted by the Additional Sessions Judge under S. 377 of the Indian Penal Code and S. 395, Indian Penal Code.

(3) The conviction of these four appellants under S. 302 was confirmed by the High Court of Rajasthan and the sentences of death passed on Nand Kumar, Kalua and Lakhan were also confirmed. The High Court reduced the sentence on Murari to one of imprisonment for life. The conviction of all the appellants under S. 395 of the Indian Penal Code and the sentencespassed thereunder were also confirmed. The present appeal is by special leave granted by this Court.

(4) The prosecution case is that when the eight boys were at Mangal Bharti temple on June 4, 1960, these four appellants and Jagdish joined them there. In the evening before they all left the temple, these appellants took Munna and his seven companions one by one into a narrow lane behind the temple and robbed them of their belongings and valuables by force. All the 13 then left the temple together but instead of returning to Dholpur City, the appellants took the boys to the Gundaria forest. It is said that before the appellants took the boys to Gundaria they had agreed among themselves to murder them. They all waited near a pillar till about 9-30 p.m. after which while Jagdish and Murari remained near the boys to keep watch over them-Jagdish being armed with a gun-first of all Munna was called away from the other boys and killed by the other three, viz., Nand Kumar, Kalua and Lakhan. The other seven were also taken away one by one and killed by these three. For these killings they used a knife which belonged to Murari and which Murari had brought with him on that day. After all the eight boys had been killed the booty was distributed among these five. Nand Kumar took in his share an Agfa camera which had been taken from Munna and also Munna s wrist watch; Lakhan got a wrist watch and a ring which had belonged to Ram Prakash; Kalua s share was a wrist watch belonging to Laxmi Chand and also a ring which belonged to him. Murari got four buttons and some money in cash and Jagdish also got some buttons and cash.

(5) The relatives of the boys had become anxious when the boys did not return on the night of June 4. Information was received from Puran, also of Dholpur City, who had also gone to the Mangal Bharti on that day that he had seen the eight boys and also Nand Kumar, Lakhan, Kalua, Jagdish and Murari together at the Mangal Bharti. Inquiries were then made at the houses of these five but they were all found absent. On the following morning, i.e., the 5th June, 1960, at 6 a.m., Shiv Narain, the brother of Munna lodged information with the Kotwali Police, Dholpur, about the disappearance of these boys. He added his suspicion that these boys might have fallen into the hands of dacoits belonging to the Panna da