Judgment

P. Venkatarama Reddi, J.—The appellant alongwith nine others faced trial before the Court of Sessions for Greater Bombay on the charges under Sections 143, 144, 302 read with Section 149 and 326 read with Section 34 of IPC for committing the murder of one Prakash Gopal Katkar on the night of 12th February, 1981 and for causing injuries to five others who are prosecution witnesses 3 to 7. Amongst those in­jured witnesses, excepting PW 7, others are close relations of the deceased living in the same or opposite house i.e., at Khatkar Chawl No. 1 and 2, Hanuman Nagar, Ghatkopar. PW 7 was the neighbour. Learned Addl. Sessions Judge acquitted all the accused. On appeal by the State, the High Court convicted the appellant for the offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-. Three other accused who are not appellants before us were held guilty of the offence under Section 324 IPC read with Section 34 IPC. Accordingly, the State’s appeal was allowed. As the High Court found that only four persons including the appellant par­ticipated in the ­attack, it excluded the applicability of Section 149 IPC.

2. The incident had taken p