Soni Shrivastava, J.—The present appeal under Section 374(2) read with Section 389(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as 'Cr.P.C') has been preferred against the judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 05.08.2016 and 10.08.2016 respectively, passed by the Court of 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Muzaffarpur in Sessions Trial No.276 of 2002, arising out of Karja P.S. Case No.16 of 2000, whereby and whereunder the appellants have been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as 'IPC') and they have been sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs.10,000/- each and in default thereof, they have been directed to undergo simple imprisonment for three months. The appellants have been further convicted under Section 148 of the I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment for 2 years. The appellants have also been convicted under Section 147 of the I.P.C. as also Sections 323 and 324 of the I.P.C., however, no separate sentence has been awarded thereunder. Both the sentences have been ordered to run concurrently.

2. The short facts of the case arising out of the First Information Report based on the fardbeyan of Lal Babu Singh, the informant, whose fardbeyan was recorded at Sadar Hospital, Muzaffarpur on 09.02.2000 at 12:30 PM, is that on the same day, i.e. on 09.02.2000 at around 07:30 AM, while the informant was sitting at his shop and having tea, the accused persons being Sachidanand Singh (appellant no.1), Mitendra Singh (Appellant No.2), Satyendra Singh (Appellant No.3), Mintu Singh and Sakal Mahto came on their tractor and asked them to accompany to the field, with regard to some talks regarding the land. Pursuant to such asking, the informant along with the brother Raj Kishore Singh went to the field while the accused persons had already reached on their tractor. The two brothers, being the informant (PW-4) and the deceased, arrived later to find that the accused persons were cutting the mustard crops from their fields and on being objected, the accused persons started hurling abuses which was protested by the informant. It was on this issue that Sachidanand Singh (Appellant No.1) took out a farsa which was kept concealed in the tractor from before and his son Mintu Singh took out a knife which he had concealed in his waist. Satyendra Singh (Appellant No.3), Mitendra Singh (Appellant No.2) and Sakal Mahto also brought lathis from the tractor and all of them started assaulting the informant and the deceased by means of lathi, farsa and knife with the intention to kill him. The informant's elder brother Raj Kishore Singh (deceased) was indiscriminately assaulted by farsa and lathi on the head on account of which he became badly injured and also fell being unconscious. The informant alleges that he was also assaulted by means of lathi, danda and farsa resulting in an injury caused on the finger of his right hand, being a bleeding injury. It has been further alleged by the informant, that his cousin Birendra Singh (PW-7), who was working in the adjacent field, came running in his bid to save the informant and the deceased, however he was also assaulted by means of lathi and danda resulting in an injury on his right wrist. The brother of the informant Raj Kishore Singh was lying in an unconscious state with bleeding injuries and thinking him to be dead, the accused persons left the place of occurrence. During the course of all this, hulla (alarm) was raised, pursuant to which the persons working in the adjacent fields assembled at the place of occurrence, whereafter the accused persons kept the cut mustard crops on the tractor and fled away. Thereafter, it is stated that the informant and others ran to the village, got a jeep and took their brother Raj Kishore Singh along with Birendra Kumar Singh, Pramod Kumar, Jiwach Singh, Pawan Singh, Kalika Singh, Jalim Singh and others to Sadar Hospital, Muzaffarpur, where trea