Reuben, J.

1. This judgment will govern Death Reference No. 37 of 1952 and Criminal Appeals 538 and 539 of 1952. The two appellants have been convicted under Section 302/34, I P. C. by the Sessions Judge of Patna and sentenced to death.

2. The case arises out of a murder which took place in the night of the 27th/28th February, 1951, in mahalla Mithapur in the Patna Municipality at a distance of one and a half miles south of Police Station Kotwali. The victims of the murder were one Anand Prakash Sahu and his wife. The murder was discovered in the morning by a Goala boy Bajendra Gope (P. W. 2), aged ten years, who went as usual to sell milk at the door. The residence occupied by the deceased couple consists of one room with a verandah, to the north of it and an angan to its south. Pushing open the verandah door the boy went to the door of the room and pushed that door open also. He called, but got no reply. A small child came out of the room and he asked her where her mother was. The child pointed and the boy noticed a lot of blood scattered about.

Feeling afraid he ran away and informed his father Chotan Gope (P. W. 3). By the time Chotan came, the news had got round and on