JUDGMENT

S.B. Majmudar, J. - This is an appeal under Section 379, Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.) read with Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970. It is directed against the judgment and order of the High Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad by which the High Court reversed the acquittal of the appellants and convicted them of diverse offences under Section 302 read with Section 149, Indian penal Code (I.P.C.), Section 307, I.P.C. and also under Sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment and other sentences as detailed in the judgment under appeal. The appeal against acquittal of original accused No. 10 has been dismissed by the High Court and so far as his acquittal is concerned it is no longer in challenge before us. In this appeal, we are concerned with the conviction and sentence of appellants 1 to 9 who were original accused Nos. 1 to 9 respectively before the Trial Court. We shall refer to the appellants as accused Nos. 1 to 9 in this judgment for the sake of convenience.

Background Facts

2. A few relevant facts leading to this appeal are required to be note