JUDGMENT :

Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J

1. The appellants Rajesh alias Sarkari and Ajay Hooda have been convicted, together with a co-accused¹ [Pehlad Singh alias Harpal] for an offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the India Penal Code²[IPC] and have been sentenced to imprisonment for life.

2. On 26 December 2006, a ruqqa³[written intimation] was received at the Police Post, PGIMS from PGIMS, Rohtak about Sandeep Hooda, son of Azad Singh Hooda, having been brought dead there. ASI, Meha Singh met Azad Singh, the complainant, at the emergency ward in PGIMS, Rohtak. Azad Singh made a statement which was reduced into writing upon which a First Information Report⁴[FIR] being FIR No. 781 was registered under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code⁵[CrPC] at Police Station Sadar, Rohtak. The complainant stated that his elder son Sandeep was studying in the final year of the LLB degree course in Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak⁶[University]. On 26 December 2006, Sandeep had gone to the law department in the University to prepare for the exams. The complainant’s son-in-law had come to their house and was in a hurry to leave after meeting Sandeep. They tried to contact