[Per Dr. Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi, J.]

1. All these five Appeals are arising out of one and same Judgment dated 10th February, 2009 in Sessions Case No.260 of 2007 of the 6th Ad- Hoc Additional Sessions Judge, Sewree, Mumbai. Hence, they are being decided by this common Judgment. The Appellants are referred to, for the sake of convenience, by their original nomenclature.

2. By the impugned Judgment, Accused Nos.1 to 6 are convicted and sentenced as follows :

Section 143 IPC - R.I. for 6 months and fine of Rs.200/-, in default to suffer R.I. for 1 month.

?Section 144 IPC - R.I. for 1 year and fine of Rs.300/-, in default to suffer R.I. for 1 month.

Section 147 IPC - R.I. for 1 year and fine of Rs.300/-, in default to suffer R.I. for 1 month.

Section 148 IPC - R.I. for 2 years and fine of Rs.500/-, in default to suffer R.I. for 2 months.

Section 37(1)(a) r/w. 135 Bombay Police Act - R.I. for 6 months and fine of Rs.200/-, in default to suffer R.I. for 1 month.

?Section 4 r/w. 25 Arms Act - R.I. for 1 year and fine of Rs.200/-, in default to suffer R.I. for 1 month.

3. Accused Nos.1 to 3 are further convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 r/w. 149 IPC and sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and fine of Rs.1,000/- each, in default to suffer R.I. for 6 months.

4. Whereas, Accused Nos.4 to 6 are further convicted for the offence punishable under Section 307 r/w. 149 IPC and sentenced to suffer R.I. for 10 years and fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default to suffer R.I. for 6 months.

5. All the substantive sentences of imprisonment were to run concurrently.

6. Facts, as are necessary, for the decision of these Appeals may briefly be stated thus :

On 10th December, 2006, at about 10:20 pm to 10:30 pm, after attending the office of Uttam Gite, the worker of Congress (I) Party, at Mulund, injured PW-2 Vitthal Hingane and his brother deceased Jagdish were returning towards their house. When they reached near Sant Pyas Lane, the Accused Nos.1 to 6 came from opposite side. They were armed with various weapons, like choppers, swords, sickle, and with those weapons, on account of some old enmity, they assaulted deceased Jagdish and injured PW-2 Vitthal. Hearing the shouts of the injured and the deceased, PW-11 Police Naik Dyaneshwar Ladse, who was patrolling in the said area, along with Police Naik Ghyansham Pawar, rushed to their help. They tried to chase the Accused persons. However, they could caught hold of Accused No.1-Sunil alone with blood stained chopper in his hand and other Accused succeeded in fleeing from the spot.

7. PW-16 Kishor Potdar, who was passing on the said road, after hearing the shouts, came to the help of PW-11 P.N. Ladse and with his help P.N. Pawar took both the injured in an auto-rickshaw to Mulund General Hospital. PW-11 P.N. Ladse took Accused No.1-Sunil also in one Maruti Car behind the said rickshaw to the same hospital. On the way, they met PW-15 Jagdish Shetty, who was knowing the injured persons and he identified them. He also accompanied the P.N. to Mulund General Hospital.

8. On arrival at the hospital, PW-11 P.N. Ladse handed over the custody of Accused No.1-Sunil, along with his blood stained chopper, to P.N. Pawar for taking him to the Mulund Police Station. PW-11 P.N. Ladse stayed in the hospital with the injured. He made enquiry with injured Jagdish and injured Jagdish told him the names of the assailants, who have assaulted him and his brother PW-2 Vitthal.

9. Meanwhile, PW-24 PSI Madhusudan Joshi and PW-25 PI Ananta Mane, who were attached to Mulund Police Station, on receipt of the information of the incident from PW-11 P.N. Ladse and P.N. Pawar rushed to Mulund General Hospital. There they came to know that Jagdish has succumbed to the injuries, whereas, another injured PW-2 Vitthal was being taken to Sion Hospital. PW-24 PSI Joshi then took PW-2 Vitthal to Sion Hospital. There he obtained permission of PW-23 Dr. Aniruddh Gokhale for recording the statement of injured PW-2 Vitthal and also