JUDGMENT

 The above six appellants/ accused took their trial on the allegations that on 26-5-73 at about 11 p.m. near village Ganaur at the road side they all committed dacoity and in the course of the commission of such dacoity caused the death of one Birbal and also looted cash, wrist watches and ornaments etc. and that in the course of transaction they were armed with the guns, pistols and knives. On the above allegations, various charges were framed against the appellants under Ss. 396, 395 and 395 read with S. 397, I. P.C. and under S. 27 the Arms Act. For better understanding-and easy appreciation of the facts of the case, we are making reference to the appellants in the order as arrayed before the trial Court.

2. The brief facts of the case as disclosed from the evidence adduced by the prosecution can be summarised as follows:

On 26-5-73 at about 11 p.m. a passenger bus bearing Registration No. NPA 5282 proceeded from Birshinghpur of Satna District via Gurh and Churhat for Sidhi. P.W. 3, Motilal Gupta and P.W. 8, Sultan Ali were the conductor and driver respectively of the bus. There were about twenty passengers in the bus of whom one was Bibral Ali the deceased herein belonging to village Patauta, to which A 1 to A3 belong. When the bus had hardly covered four miles beyond the Mohania Barrier and was crossing through the hilly terrain of Eymore range within the Revenue village of Ganaur, the driver suddenly found that the road ahead was blocked by boulders. The driver brought the bus to a halt. There were some gun shots from the right side of the bus. Suddenly these 6 accused came up on the road. One of them climbed up on the seat of the driver and pushed him aside at his gun point. The driver suddenly switched off the lights and warned the passengers that the bus was to be looted and the passengers could run for safety. But even before the passengers could alight from the bus, some of the dacoits entered through the drivers window and compelled the driver to put on the lights. The other dacoits took position outside with weapons and prevented the passengers from getting down from the bug. Two accused entered from the side doors armed with fire-arms and started relieving the passengers of their cash, watches and ornaments. It may be mentioned that the dacoits had put stripes (patti) on their faces evidently to conceal their identity. The passengers were stunned and became panicky. In the course of the dacoity, Birbal along with the conductor (P.W. 3) was taken outside the bus and questioned as to whether he recognised the dacoits. He replied in the negative. Not being satisfied with his reply, one of the dacoits fired at Birbal from a close range and killed him.

3. After looting the passengers of their valuables, the accused made good their escape after deflating the tyres. A little later two trucks came together from Rewa side and cleared the road. By the time P.W. 27, a Medical officer, same on his motorcycle from the opposite direction. P.W. 27 after hearing the incident of dacoity instead of proceeding further took P.W. 1 to the Police Station for reporting the matter at Churhat police station. He woke up the Station House Officer at his residence and dictated the First Information Report Ex. P1 at about 12.30 in the night. In the meantime, the driver P.W. 8 changed the deflated wheel and brought the bus to the police station with passengers leaving the dead body at the spot. The Station House Officer came to the scene spot and found the dead body lying. He held inquest over the dead body and sent the same for post-mortem examination. During the course of the investigation he seized the empty catridges Ex. P7, prepared a site plan, Ex P12 and examined the witnesses. On 3-6-73 at about 2.15 p.m. the first and the second accused were arrested and interrogated. On the confession given by the second accused Arjun Singh several articles which were the subject-matter of dacoity were recovered. He also seized two country mad