JUDGMENT :

ABHAY S. OKA, J.

FACTUAL ASPECTS

1. This is an appeal preferred by the accused nos.1 and 2. The learned Trial Court convicted accused no.3 – Paro Yadav, for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, ‘IPC’). The appellants were convicted for the offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC and Section 325 read with Section 34 of the IPC. The appellants were sentenced to undergo life imprisonment for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC. They were also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years for the offence punishable under Section 325 read with Section 34 of the IPC. Separate appeals were preferred by the appellants and accused no.3 before the Patna High Court. By the impugned judgment and order dated 7th October 2005, the appeals have been dismissed. The accused no.3 – Paro Yadav filed a Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (Criminal) no.4802 of 2006, which this Court dismissed vide its order dated 11th December 2006.

2. We are setting out the prosecution case in brief. PW4 (Jagdish Manjhi) is the first informant. The incident occurred on 10th March 1997