JUDGMENT

V.S. Sirpurkar, J. —

1. This judgment will dispose of Criminal Appeal Nos. 452 of 2007, 453 of 2007, 455 of 2007 and 503 of 2007, 272 of 2008 and SLP (Crl.) 1217 of 2007.

2. Leave granted in SLP (Crl) 1217 of 2007.

3. All these appeals are against the conviction of accused persons who were convicted by the trial Court and the appellate Court for offences under Sections 120B, 302 read with Section 109, Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 302, IPC substantively.

4. Initially, there were as many as 11 accused persons tried for the offence of murder of Vivi @ Vivek @ Vivekanandan. The trial Court convicted the original accused No. 9, Kumar s/o Vellaichami, accused No. 10, Pavunraj @ Pavun s/o Poothiyamuthu and accused No.11, Prince Kumar @ Prince @ Balan s/o Amalraj for the offence under Sections 302, IPC read with Section 34, IPC. While accused No.9, Kumar s/o Vellaichami was convicted for the substantive offence the other two accused persons were convicted with the aid of Section 34 IPC. The trial Court acquitted accused No.3 Subramaniam @ Subbu Kutty s/o Ramasamy Gounder. There was no appeal against his acquittal filed by the State. Venkatraman Krishnan @ Venkatraman @ Tha