ORDER :

M.K. Mukherjee, J.

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 21-2-1985 of the Patna High Court (Ranchi Bench) in Criminal Appeal No. 199 of 1983 (R) whereby it affirmed the conviction and sentence recorded against the two appellants under Section 302 read with Section 34 Indian Penal Code by the Additional Sessions Judge, Chaibasa and dismissed their appeal.

2. The prosecution case, briefly stated, is that on 17-11-1980, at or about 10 a.m. when Salai Bodra (the deceased) was going to see his paddy field, the two appellants along with a few others (since acquitted) came out of a bush armed with various weapons including pharsas, lathis, bows and arrows and tried to attack him. Seeing them, the deceased ran away and took shelter in the house of one Bomia Bodra. The accused persons who were chasing him, however, forced him to come out of the house and again run for his life. Ultimately they caught hold of him and the two appellants assaulted him with pharsas and after severing his head from the trunk, took it away. It is the further prosecution case that the appellants then went straight to the police station and produced the chopped-off head and the blood