( 1 ) THE first of these three appeals, has been preferred by the five accused persons in Sessions Case No. 9/95 which was tried by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Kodagu. The Criminal Appeal 718/96 has been preferred only by accused No. 2 and is a Jail Appeal , Crl. Appeal No. 835/96 has been preferred by accused Nos. 4 and 5 and is also a Jail Appeal. This Court appointed learned Advocate Mr. Jagadish Patil as amicus curiae in Crl. A. 835/96. Suffice it to say, that all the accused persons have been duly represented before us. The five accused originally stood charged with an offence punishable under S. 302, IPC and briefly stated, the allegation was that acting conjointly, these persons are alleged to have hired a jeep bearing No. KA 12 M 1474 on the night of 2/3-10-94 and that shortly thereafter they strangulated the driver of the jeep by the name of Yusoof and threw his body by the roadside at Nallihudikeri village and that they thereafter made away with the jeep. It is also alleged that the wrist watch of the deceased was taken away and it is the pros-ecution case that the wrist watch in question as also the jeep and the stepney of the jeep, the jack, the lever