JUDGMENT

Harjit Singh Bedi, J.

1. This appeal arises out of the following facts:

The deceased, Manoharan, was residing with his third wife PW-1 in Vendambadi Kudi Street. He was also claiming a share in the bank deposits left in the Cooperative Bank at Namakkal, by his aunt. This claim was opposed by A-1, his father, A-2 and A-3, the husbands of his sisters, A-4 son of A-2, A-5 his second wife and A-6 the brother of A-5, and there was some amount of friction between them on account of these conflicting claims. At about 1:30 a.m., on the 6th January, 2002, PW-1 and the deceased were sleeping in their house when A-3, A-5 and A-6 armed with bamboo sticks, A-4 armed with a reaper and A-1 with a stone reached that place and on the exhortation of A-1 that the deceased should be finished off, he was attacked by all the accused. The deceased also attempted to escape but in that effort he fell down whereupon A-4 hit him on the skull, A-2 attacked him with a knife and A-1 with a stone on his head. PW-1, who had seen the incident, went close to her husband and found that he was dead. She immediately went to the Panchayat President who directed her to approach the police. She accordingly reached police station, Namakkal at about 6:30 a.m. and lodged a report and a case under Sections 147, 148 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered. The Inspector of police, PW-16, thereafter took up the investigation, visited the site, made the necessary enquiries and sent the dead body for its post mortem examination. The post-mortem, performed by PW-9, revealed 24 injuries on the dead body. The accused were also arrested and pursuant to the disclosure statements made by A-1 and A-2, the weapons used by them were recovered.

On the completion of the investigation, the accused were charged for offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 149 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code. They pleaded not guilty and were brought to trial.

2. The Trial Court, relying on the evidence of PW-1, the only eye-witness, held that A-2, A-3, A-4 and A-6 were guilty of the offence under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code. The Court, however, acquitted A-1 and A-5 of the charge of murder but found them guilty under Sections 147 and 148 of the Indian Penal Code and awarded them a sentence under those provisions. The Trial Court accordingly sentenced A-2, A-3, A-4 and A-6 to life imprisonment under Section 302/149 of the Code.

3. An appeal was thereafter filed in the High Court by the accused. This appeal was partly allowed and the conclusions drawn were:

For the foregoing reasons, the conviction and sentence imposed upon A-2 to A-6 under Section 147 of I.P.C. are set aside, and they are acquitted of the said charge. The conviction and sentence imposed upon A-2 to A-6 under Section 148 of I.P.C. are set aside, and they are acquitted of the said charge. So far as the conviction and sentence imposed upon A-3 and A-6 under Section 302 read with 149 of I.P.C. are concerned, the same are set aside, and they are acquitted of the said charge. The conviction of A-2 under Section 302 read with 149 of I.P.C. is set aside, and instead he is convicted under Section 302 of I.P.C. The life sentence imposed on A-2 is confirmed. So far as A-4 is concerned, the conviction and sentence imposed upon him under Section 302 read with 149 of I.P.C. are set aside, and instead, he is convicted under Section 324 of I.P.C. and directed to suffer one year's Rigorous Imprisonment

A-2 and A-4 are before us by way of special leave.

4. In the course of the hearing, Mr. Vijay Francis, the learned Counsel for the Appellants, has raised pleas similar to those raised in the Courts below. He has first submitted that there was no independent witness to the incident and in the light of the fact that there was no light in the house where the murder had happened and more particularly as there was admittedly grave animosity between the parties, it appeared that the PW-1 had not been able to identify th