JUDGMENT - KANADE V.M., J.:---The appellants herein were charged under sections 302 read with sections 147, 148, 149, 452 of the Indian Penal Code and were also charged independently under section 307 read with section 149 of the Indian Penal Code. The trial Court convicted the accused/appellant No. 1 herein and accused Nos. 3 to 7 guilty for the offences punishable under sections 147, 148, 452 read with sections 149, 307 read with section 149 and also under section 302 read with section 149 of the Indian Penal Code and they were sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and so far as the offence under section 302 read with section 149 of the Indian Penal Code are concerned, they were convicted for three years for having committed an offence under sections 307 read with section 149 of the Indian Penal Code. The original accused No. 2 Mohan s/o Kashinath Lahale had died during the pendency of the trial and, therefore, the trial against him has abated in view of his death. Appellant No. 1 is the original accused No. 1 and appellants Nos. 2 to 6 are the original accused Nos. 3 to 7. (For the sake of convenience they will be referred to original accused No. 1 and accused Nos. 3 to 7). The appellants have challenged the said judgment and orders passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Amravati in Sessions Trial No. 87 of 1988, dated 25th July, 1997.

2. Brief facts of the prosecution case are as under :

It is the case of the prosecution that the relations between accused No. 1 Kashirao s/o Kisan Lahale and P.W. 1 Pundlik Tulshiram Taksale were strained for a long time and P.W. 1 Pundlik Tulshiram Taksale who initially used to stay in village Dhamori, had shifted his residence to another village namely village Saturna along with his wife and children since about one year before the date of the incident. It is the case of the prosecution that on 27-12-1987 at about 6.30 p.m. accused No. 1 along with accused Nos. 3 to 7 and deceased accused No. 2 formed an unlawful assembly to cause the death of P.W. 1 Pundlik Tulshiram Taksale and his friends. It is the case of the prosecution that accused No. 1 was armed with a sword, accused No. 2 was armed with an axe, other accused were armed with lathis and the prosecution case in brief is that these accused entered the house of P.W. 1 Pundlik Tulshiram Taksale and when one of the friend of P.W. 1 Pundlik Tulshiram Taksale escaped from the rear door, these accused chased the said Subhash Varankar and assaulted him with sword, axe and sticks and committed his murder and, thereafter, came back to the house of P.W. 1 Pundlik Tulshiram Taksale, pelted stones on his house and after P.W. 1 Pundlik ran away from his house to save his life, these accused chased him and gave blows on the person of P.W. 1 Pundlik, amputated his left arm and also caused injuries to his right arm and also assaulted him with sticks and sword and, thereafter, chased another friends of P.W. 1 Pundlik. However, the said friend Jaiwant was successful in catching an S.T. Bus and fled away from the scene of the offence.

3. The background of the case, according to the prosecution, is that the accused No. 2 who died during the pendency of the trial, was the son of accused No. 1, accused Nos. 4 and 5 are real brothers, accused No. 7 is the son of accused No. 6 and all of them are residents of village Dhamori. It is the case of the prosecution that initially P.W. 1 Pundlik was also residing in village Dhamori. However, on account of the enemity between the two groups, P.W. 1 Pundlik had abandoned the said village and has started residing in village Saturna. A criminal case under section 324 of the Indian Penal Code was pending against P.W. 1 Pundlik for having assaulted the present accused No. 1.

4. Under these circumstances, on the date of the incident i.e. on 27-12-1987, when P.W. 2 Gangadhar Patil, P.W. 5, Jaiwanta, P.W. 6, Charandas and deceased Subhash Varankar were going to village Dhamori in an Auto Rickshaw. P.W. 1 Pun

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