PER S.S. SHINDE, J.

1. This Appeal is preferred by the State challenging the Judgment and order dated 23rd February, 2000, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Dhule in Sessions Case No.26 of 1997, There by acquitting original accused Nos.1 to 4/ Respondent Nos.1 to 4 from the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 and Section 447 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (in short “I.P. Code”).

2. The prosecution case, in nutshell, is as under :-

(A) It is the case of the prosecution tht Damu, Ravan, Dashrath and Dattu are the four brothers. Dattu is said to be the elder. In the year 1971, partition had taken place amongst these four brothers and the ancestral properties came to be partitioned. Narayan Patil is said to be the real paternal uncle of the aforesaid four brothers. Accused No.1 Bhatu is said to be son of Narayan Patil, in the sense accused No.1 Bhatu is said to be the cousin of the aforesaid four brothers. This Bhatu Narayan is said to have two sons, namely Vilas and Sopan (accused Nos.2 and 4). Vakil is said to be the son of Narayan Patil. Thus, it can be said that Bhatu and Vakil are the sons of Narayan Patil. As the ancestors of Dattu and his three brother and the ancestors of Bhatu and Vakil remained joint for a pretty long time, they had been possessing the landed properties in joint. In due course of time, the partition had taken place. Consequently, a piece of land came to be divided in subdivisions. The land of Bhatu Narayan is adjacent to the land of Dattu Kalu. It is being said that even on a trifle matters, the dispute had taken place between Bhatu Narayan, Vakil Narayan on one hand and Dattu Kalu and his three brothers on the other hand. Complaints were filed. They fought the litigation in Civil Court as well as in criminal Courts. This rivalry culminated by taking away lives of four innocent boys who were in their prime youth.

(B) Another cause of this rivalry was that the piece of land belonging to Dashrath Kalu and Damu Kalu was adjacent to the land of Bhatu Narayan. Ravan Kalu sold his piece of land to Bhatu Narayan. There was a well which was in common. These four real brothers and their cousin were having equal share in that well water. Day to day the water level of that well started diminishing. No remedy was left open before Dashrath but to dig a separate well to irrigate his crops. The well which was dug independently by Dashrath was adjacent to the common well. Bhatu Narayan also dug a separate well. On account of that fact, the water level of all the wells in the vicinity had reduced and none of them was in a position to get sufficient water to irrigate their crops. Since that day, the enmity which was already in existence, started worsening.

(C) It is the case of the prosecution that in the night of 22nd April, 1996, deceased, namely, Vijay-aged 15 years, Dipak-aged 13 years, Tatyabhau-aged 13 years and Ramdas-aged 19 years, were sleeping in a piece of land known as Guntara. The accused armed with a deadly weapon, namely axe, went there. They had given blows by means of an axe on the person of those four boys. Out of four boys, three boys succumbed to their injuries, whereas the fourth boy died after the interval of eight to ten days.

(D) On 22nd April, 1996, Dashrath Kalu along with his wife went out of village Bhadgaon. Before leaving the house on 22nd April, 1996, in the morning hours, he had called his two sons namely Vijay and Dipak to be more vigilant as at the relevant time there was a standing crop of groundnut in that piece of land which is known as "Guntara". While leaving the house, Dashrath Kalu had given the instructions to his two sons Vijay and Dipak to take care of the standing crops even during the night hours and if necessary, they should take the assistance of their friends. Accordingly, Vijay and Dipak called their friends namely, Tatyabhau Popat Patil and Ramdas Kautik Patil.

(E) In the night of 22nd April, 1996, in the house of Dashrath, h