Tambe, J.

1. Criminal Appeal No. 1759 of 1963, is preferred by original accused No. 5 - Laxman Padma Bhagat : Criminal Appeal No. 53 of 1964, is by Haroon Haji Abdulla, original accused No. 8 : and Criminal Appeal No. 1 of 1964, is by Ayub Kassim Kika. Original accused No. 9. These three appeals can be disposed of by one judgment. They arise out of the judgment of the learned Presidency Magistrate, 19th Court. Esplanade, Bombay, where the aforesaid three appellants along with 15 others were put up for trail. Out of these 18 accused, accused No. 17 was discharged; accused Nos. 14, 15 and 18 - Haji Mahamed Barkati, Haji Sattar and Yusuf Habib had been absconding, and therefore their cases were separated, original accused No. 4, Noor Mohamed Alu Bhati was jointly tried along with the remaining accused, but on the date of the judgment, it was found that he had absconded, and., therefore, his case was separated/ Accused No. 1 Govind Narayan Bengali, who was jointly tried, died after the close of the case but before the pronouncement of the judgment. Accused Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 16 - Shankar Aitwar Koli, Usman Saleh, Adam Budda and Gulam Nabi have been acquitted.

(2) In short, as a