JUDGMENT

Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.—

1.Appellant faced trial alongwith several others for alleged commission of offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34, Section 201 read with Section 34 and Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the IPC).

2.The factual details need not detain us as undisputedly the co-accused have been acquitted by this Court in Mousam Singha Roy and Others v. State of W.B. [2003(12) SCC 377]. The effect of such acquittal vis-‘-vis similarly situated co-accused has been considered by this Court in several cases.

3.Learned counsel for the appellant placed reliance on various decisions of this Court contending that the benefit of acquittal should be extended to the appellant.

4.Learned counsel for the State on the other hand submitted that the appellant did not surrender initially and therefore decisions relied upon may not have any relevance. He relied on the decisions in Raja Ram & Ors. v. State of M.P.,1 (1994 (2) SCC 568); Kashmira Singh v. State of Punjab,2 (1995 (Supp) 4 SCC 558); Dandu Lakshmi Reddy v. State of A.P.,3 (1999 (7) SCC 69); Jayantibhai Bhenkar v. State of Gujarat,4 (2002 (8) SCC 165); Bijoy Singh & Anr.