P. DIWAKER, J.

1. Since the above criminal appeals arise out of the same incident, they are being heard together and decided by this common judgment.

2. The appellants in the above appeals have challenged the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 8.11.2012 passed by the Sessions Judge, North Bastar, Kanker in S.T. No.42/2010 convicting them under Sections 147, 148, 364, 302/149 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'the IPC') and sentencing each of them to undergo RI for 1 year; RI for 2 years, RI for 10 years and RI for life with fine of Rs.500/-, with usual default clause, respectively.

3. In the present case name of deceased is Kheluram.

4. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 3.10.2009 the deceased, his wife and Nutan Singh (PW-9) had gone to the house of Ajruram, uncle of Nutam Singh (PW-9) and when they were dining in the house of Arjuram, the accused persons named in FIR along with few unknown persons dressed in dark colour uniform & armed with weapons arrived at the house of Arjuram in search of the deceased and after finding him, took him along with them towards village Rasauli after tying both his hands with rope. On 4.10.2009 at the instance of Nutan Kumar (PW-9), FIR (Ex.P-9) was registered against accused/appellant Shani & others for the offence punishable under Sections 147, 148, 149, 364 of IPC read with Section 25, 27 of the Arms Act. On 7.10.2009 at about 12 in the noon Hiraram (PW-3) noticed the body of deceased lying in an open field. Dehati Merg was recorded vide Ex.P-3. Inquest over the body of deceased was prepared vide Ex.P-4 on 7.10.2009. Body of deceased was sent for postmortem examination to the Community Health Centre, Bhanupratappur where Dr. R.D. Koreti (PW-1) conducted post-mortem examination of the body of deceased and noticed one incised wound in the size of 4x6 inch in the anterior part of neck, fracture of hyoid bone, skin, muscle & artery of neck were cut. He opined that the cause of death was haemorrhagic & neurogenic shock and duration of death of deceased was 15 to 25 hours prior to post-mortem examination. One letter dated 6.10.2009 (Ex.P-7) containing threat of naxalites to the persons who were acting as police informer or helping the police in any manner was seized from the spot vide seizure memo of Ex.P-8. In the FIR it has been further mentioned that accused Dhanesh Boga alias Dhongiya was one of the members of naxalitie gang who came in search of the deceased.

5. After completion of investigation, charge sheet for the offence punishable under Sections 147, 148, 364, 302/149 of IPC was filed against the accused/appellants and accordingly the charges were framed by the trial Court against them. To substantiate the charges, the prosecution has examined 12 witnesses in all. Statements of accused/appellants were recorded under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. in which they abjured their guilt and pleaded innocence & false implication.

6. The trial Court after hearing the parties in the matter and considering the material available on record, by the impugned judgment convicted & sentenced the accused/appellants in the manner as described above.

7. Counsel for accused/appellants in Criminal Appeal No.1154/2012 submits that the appellants have not been named by any of the witnesses as the members of naxalite gang who took the deceased along with them and their conviction is solely based on the testimony of PW-9 who has stated in the Court that he identified these appellants by their voice, but there is no evidence that PW-9 was acquainted from the manner of speech, gait and voice of the appellants and as such, the claim of PW-9 that he had identified the appellants herein by their voice cannot be accepted and it is not safe to convict them only on the basis of aforesaid shaky evidence. Furthermore, according to PW-9 Nutan Kumar, the naxalites had covered their faces and therefore also it was very difficult for him to identify the appellants merely on the basis of their voice. Relia