( 1 ) THREE unfortunate homicidal deaths were committed between 4-00 P. M. and 4-30 P. M. on 29/08/1983 at Ahmedabad and the appellants of the aforesaid appeals are involved as the per- petrators of them. They were charged in Sessions Case No. 141 of 1983 and were convicted by the learned Additional City Sessions Judge (Court No. 2) Ahmedabad principally for the offence punishable under sec. 302 read with sec. 120b of the Indian Penal Code and accused No. 1 and accused No. 6 were also charged for the offence punishable under sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code substantively and the accused were further convicted under other sections which we shall deal with in details later in our judgment. We shall refer to the appellants herein as the accused as per their serial number given in the aforesaid Sessions Case.

( 2 ) WE shall refer to the prosecution case in outline as a backdrop in order to put the facts in their proper perspective and also in order to appreciate their inter connection the inter-connection of the accused the conception and the progress of the conspiracy the involvement of the accused therein and lastly to assess the legal effect of all these. The three tragic murders occurred in quick succession within a short span of 30 minutes in broad day-light two on public roads and one on a public street. The victims were in chronological order Santoksing Harising and Biharilal. Harising was the father of Santoksing.

( 3 ) THE homicidal death of Santoksing occurred near the AMTS Bus Terminus situated near Dakshini Society. Dakshini Society is near the southern end of Maninagar a suburb of Ahmedabad. The deceased Santoksing was a driver of the municipal bus on Rute No. 42. Kanaiyalal Ambalal Panchal was the conductor in the same bus. Santoksing reached Dakshini Society Bus Terminus at about 4-00 P. M. On the day of the incident i. e. 29/08/1983 He and Kanaiyalal went for a cup of coffee at a nearby tea-stall. After they took coffee Kanaiyalal returned to the bus for issuing tickets to the passengers. The driver Santoksing continued to sit on a bench at the tea-stall. The prosecution case is that at this point of time the accused Nos. 1 to 9 with the absconding accused went there in two auto rickshaws. They rushed towards Santoksing. The prosecution case is that the accused No. 1 was armed with a revolver. He fired two bullets at Santoksing which hit him. Santoksing fell down from the bench. It is the further prosecution case that the accused No. 6 also fired from a Tamancha which he was wielding. The accused No. 3 was armed with a Rampuri knife at the time of the occurrence of the incident. Santoksing died on the spot. According to the prosecution this inci- dent was witnessed by the bus conductor Kanaiyalal Ambalal Panchal (P. W. 2 Exh. 31) Mangalbhai Gopalbhai Gadhvi (P. W. 10 Exh. 68) Ghanshamdas Govindram Ahuja (owner of a pan-house situated near the place of occurrence) (P. W. 11 Exh. 71) and Gajanand Pundiba Gardanwal (P. W. 13 Exh. 75 ). After the alleged attack on Santoksing the accused decamped in two auto-rickshaws towards Maninagar Railway Station.

( 4 ) THE prosecution-story further runs to tell us that all the nine accused then proceeded in the two auto-rickshaws having Jasbir Hari- sing brother of Santoksing as their next target. The accused proceeded towards the house of Jasbir situated near Physical Training Institute Khokhra-Mehmedabad situated on the eastern side of the Maninagar Railway Station. On their way to Jasbirs house the accused found Jasbir lying on a cot on a foot-path near the said Physical Training Institute. The rickshaws were halted at a distance of about 10 feet from the place where Jasbir was lying. The accused No. 1 was armed with a revolver and the other accused were equipped with different weapons. It is alleged that the accused No. 1 fired a revolver-shot towards Jasbir but Jasbir started running in the direction of his house situated nearby and the first bullet which was