Judgment

K. JAYACHANDRA REDDY, J.-1. Shankar @ Gauri Shankar (original accused 1), Eldin @ Albert (original accused 2), Shivaji (original accused 3), Jayavelu (original accused 4), Raman @ Raja Raman (original accused 5) and Ravi (original accused 6) are the appellants here. They along with four others; Palani (original accused 7), Paramasivam (original accused 8) and two absconding accused Mohan and Selvam @ Selvaraj were arrayed as accused. The case against the two absconding accused was separated. The gravamen of the charge against the accused was that all of them entered into a conspiracy and committed the murders of six deceased persons in the case namely Lalita (deceased 1), Sudalai (deceased 2), Ravi (deceased 3), Sampath (deceased 4), Mohan (deceased 5) and Govindaraj (deceased 6). The trial court found A-l to A-8 guilty under Section 120-B read with Sections 302, 201, 147, 302/34 and 404 IPC. In respect of the murder charges the trial court sentenced A-l to A-3 to death and A-4 to A-8 to imprisonment for life under each count and various other terms of imprisonment for the other minor offences. The High Court acquitted A-7 and A-8 of all the charges and confirmed the convi