JUDGMENT

K. Jayachandra Reddy, J. - This appeal is directed against the judgment of the Punjab & Haryana High Court convicting the two appellants herein under Section 302 read with Section 34 I.P.C. and sentencing them to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,500/- in default of which to undergo further one year's Rigorous Imprisonment. The main submission in this appeal is that there was inordinate delay in registering the case and the investigation is tainted and consequently the whole case should be thrown out. The material facts of the case are as follows.

2. The two appellants and the three other accused who were also tried alongwith them are residents of Village Lapon in Ludhiana District. Accused Nos. 1 to 4 are brothers and the 5th accused is the relation. The deceased one Hazura Singh aged about 80 years was the Sarpanch of the Village. In the year 1971 he lodged report stating that some cement pipes in his fields were removed by the four brothers Accused Nos. 1 to 4 alongwith other members of the family. A case was registered and the trial was pending. There were security proceedings also between P.W. 2 son of the deceased and the two appellants and the