JUDGMENT

V. RAMASWAMI, J.:— The four appellants along with 15 others were charged for offences punishable under S. 302 read with S. 149 and also S. 201 read with S. 149, S. 379 read with S. 149 and Ss. 147 and 148 of the Indian Penal Code. The charges were that they were members of an unlawful assembly, in prosecution of the common object of namely to deter Ram Sewak (P.W. 2), from filing the nomination paper for the post of Pradhan Gaon Sabha Tikhra and to commit the murder of his-associates including one Gajendra Singh Yadav (deceased), a resident of village Bibiapur and in furtherance of that common object did commit the murder of the said Gajendra Singh Yadav and further committed rioting, theft of the licensed gun of said Gajendra Singh Yadav and live cartridges belonging to the deceased.They were also charged that in furtherance of the said common object and knowing that the murder of the said Gajendra Singh was punishable with death or imprisonment for life had caused the evidence of the said offence to disappear by scrapping the blood stained earth at the scene of occurrence and burning it and taking away the dead body of Gajendra Singh and thereafter burning it with the in