ORDER :

1. This criminal appeal is filed by the Appellant (Accused No. 1) against the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Judicature of Bombay, Bench at Aurangabad in Criminal Appeal No. 551 of 2008 with Confirmation Case No. 1 of 2008. By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court has affirmed the judgment and order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Parbhani in Sessions Trial No. 46/2006, dated 22.08.2008 and further confirmed the death sentence awarded by the Trial Court. The facts in extenso need not be noticed by us as the same have been comprehensively noted by the courts below. The background of the facts goes to explain the genesis of the incident that took place when the deceased-Vidya Deshmukh and her family members, after having their dinner, retired to bed. On the fateful day, at about 3.00 am-3.15 am, the Appellant-Maheboobkhan along with others barged into the house of the deceased with the intention of committing theft and robbery and threatened the father of the deceased (PW-2), the mother of the deceased (PW-3) and the uncle of the deceased (PW-15), at the point of their knife not to raise any alarm and thereafter tied their hands with the help