Amitav K. Gupta, J.–This appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 30.4.2003 and 7.5.2003 respectively passed by IIIrd Addl. Sessions Judge, Godda in Sessions Case No. 156 of 2001/38 of 2002 whereby appellant nos. 1, 2 and 3 have been convicted under Sections 120-B/302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'IPC') and have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. The appellant nos. 2 to 13 have been convicted for the offence under Sections 302/149/34 I.P.C. and have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 10,000/- each. The appellant nos. 2 to 4, 7 and 10 to 12 have been convicted under Section 148 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for three years. The appellant nos. 5, 6, 8, 9 and 13 have been convicted under Section 147 IPC and have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for two years. The appellant nos. 7 and 10 have been convicted under Section 4(b) of the Explosive Substances Act and they have been sentenced for seven years with fine of Rs. 5,000/- each.

2. In course of hearing it has been informed that appellant no. 1-Chutari Matha, appellant no. 5-Rajesh Matha and appellant no. 13-Lalu Yadav have died during the pendency of this appeal, accordingly, the appeal has abated against the aforementioned appellants.

3. The case of the prosecution as unfolded in the fardbeyan of the informant Umesh Prasad Yadav (P.W. 6) is that on 11.5.2001 at 8 a.m. the informant along with his brothers viz. Pitamber Yadav and Mahesh Yadav @ Maheshwari Yadav were returning home from Godda on the motorcycle whereby at about 5 p.m. they reached Lilje river bridge and crossed the river by kachhi road. It is stated that on south western corner of the bridge they spotted Kesho Matha (appellant no. 3), Krishna Matha (appellant no. 2) and Karunakar Chaudhary (appellant no. 4) armed with farsa (hatchet), saang (Barchha)-short spear and iron rod respectively and when they proceeded they saw Lalu Yadav, appellant no. 13 (since dead), Rajesh Matha, appellant no. 5, Ram Yadav, appellant no. 6, Buteshwar Yadav, appellant no. 7 and Sitabi Yadav, appellant no. 10 hiding in a ditch towards east of the road who came out running and shouted to encircle them. It is alleged that Lalu Yadav, Rajesh Matha and Ram Yadav were armed with pistol whereas Buteshwar Yadav and Sitabi Yadav had jhola (bag) in their hand whereafter, the informant asked his brother Mahesh @ Maheshwar Yadav to stop the motorcycle and they fled away to save their lives. It is stated that in the meantime, he saw Babulal Yadav (appellant no. 9), Mantu Yadav (appellant no. 8), Parmanand Yadav (appellant no. 12) and Sanjay Yadav (appellant no. 11) on the South-Western side of the field armed with katta, pistol, farsa and gadansa respectively. It is said that the informant ran away towards Vast and reached Village-Dumaria and his brothers fled westward from the road. It is alleged that the accused persons were hurling bombs and firing from their pistols while chasing his brothers and they caught and assaulted his brothers with the weapons causing grievous injuries to them. They shouted for help but the people of the vicinity did not come to their rescue as the accused persons are a terror in the area and they are involved in several cases of murder, dacoity and rangdari and some of them have been convicted in the aforesaid case's due to which the people of the locality do not have the courage neither do they dare to oppose them or to testify against them in the court.

It is said that the reason and the motive for the alleged occurrence was due to previous enmity and one of the brothers of the informant had lodged a case with the police on 30.4.2001 in which Chutari Matha (appellant no. 1) (since dead) was arrested and remanded to jail and the said Chutari Matha had ordered and directed the accused to kill the informant and his brothers.

It is stated that after the accused persons had fled away the informant along with