JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of the Division Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court holding the appellant and one Surjit Singh guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the ‘IPC’) and each sentenced to imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- with default stipulation. By order dated 19.2.2001, the Special Leave Petition was dismissed qua Surjit Singh.

2. Prosecution version leading to the trial is as follows :

Both the accused are brothers. They and Ravinder Kumar (hereinafter referred to as the ‘deceased’) were the residents of Village Nangal Jarialan, Tehsil Amb District Una. On 17.01.1998, the deceased had gone to Nangal Jarialan market for purchasing some articles where he met Adesh Kumar (PW-14) and Raghubir Singh (PW-15). PW-14 told them that he wanted to go to some secluded place away from the market for excreting. PW-15 and deceased accompanied PW-14 on his scooter who drove it towards the rivulet. He stopped the scooter at the road side and went towards the shrubs in the nallah. The deceased and PW-15 remained standing near the scooter waiti