JUDGMENT :

Johnson John, J .

This appeal is filed by the accused in S.C. No. 283 of 2012 on the file of the Additional Sessions Judge-II, Thodupuzha challenging the conviction and sentence passed against him for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 394 r/w Section 34 IPC as per the impugned judgment dated 19.11.2014. The appellant herein was the original third accused and the case against him was split up from S.C. No. 246 of 2002.

2. The prosecution case is that the accused herein, along with 3 other accused persons, in furtherance of their common intention to commit murder and robbery, hired Tata Sumo vehicle bearing reg. No. KL 5E 6433 driven by the deceased Ashraf from the Municipal Taxi stand, Changanacherry on 23.08.2001 at 6.45 p.m. for a trip to Thodupuzha and while the deceased was driving the vehicle along with the accused persons as passengers and when the vehicle reached near Kuzhimattom, the accused persons attacked the driver with a knife and chain and murdered him. Thereafter, the accused persons abandoned the dead body on the side of the road and took the vehicle to their native place in Maharashtra and thereafter sold the vehicle there and thereby, committed