JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of the Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court disposing of two criminal appeals i.e. Criminal Appeal Nos.1114 and 1118 of 2004. By the impugned judgment Criminal Appeal No.1114 of 2004 filed by Ganpathi Satya Prakash (A3) was allowed. But Criminal Appeal No.1118 of 2004 filed by Kotikalapudi Suresh (A2) was allowed while the appeal filed by the present A1 was dismissed. It is to be noted that the present appellant and Kotikalapudi Suresh (A2) were found guilty under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short ‘IPC’) while Ganpathi Satya Prakash (A3) was found guilty for offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC. The present appellant was also found guilty for offence punishable under Section 307 IPC. Appellant was sentenced to undergo RI for life and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- for the first offence and RI for five years and fine of Rs.2000/- with default stipulation for the second offence.

3. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows :

Kancherlapalli Ravi Kiran (hereinafter referred to as the ‘deceased’ ) was doing finance business. A1 b