Judgment

SUBBA RAO, J.:

These appeals by special leave arise out of two judgments of the High Court of Bombay, one that of Vyas and Kotval, JJ., dated March 31, 1958, and the other that of Shah and Shelat, JJ., dated November 3, 1958, in what, for convenience of reference, may be described as the Empire Conspiracy Case.

2. At the outset it would be convenient to state briefly the case of the prosecution. One Lala Shankarlal, a political leader and Vice-President of the Forward Bloc and a highly competent commercial magnate, and his nominees held the controlling block of shares of the Tropical Insurance Company Limited, hereinafter called the "Tropical", and he was the Chairman and Managing Director of the said company. He had also controlling voice in another company called the Delhi Swadeshi Co-operative Stores Ltd. The said Delhi Stores held a large number of shares of the Tropical. In or about the middle of 1948, Sardar Sardul Singh Caveeshar, who was controlling the People s Insurance Co. Ltd. and other concerns in Lahore, and Kaul, a practising barrister, came to Delhi. During that year, the former was the President of the Forward Bloc and Shankarlal was its Vice President. Shank