R. Balasubramanian, J.

Three persons stand sentenced to death. Therefore, on a Statutory reference, the referred trial is before us. Each of the convicted accused has filed a separate appeal privately and those three appeals are also before us. Since the referred trial and the three appeals arise out of one sessions case, we have taken all the above referred to proceedings for a common disposal. Heard Mr.B.Sriramulu, learned senior counsel appearing for the first accused (A1); Mr.K.S.Dinakaran, learned counsel appearing for the second accused (A2); Mr.V.Gopinath, learned senior counsel appearing for the third accused (A3) and Mr.N.R.Elango, learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the State.

2. The prosecution case is that the accused criminally trespassed into the house of the deceased at about 9.00 p.m on 011. 2005; A3 murdered Mohan Rao, one of the deceased and A1 and A2 abetted the commission of the crime; in the course of the same transaction, all the three accused fatally attacked Prabhu (son of Mohan Rao) and Sheela (wife of Mohan Rao and mother of Prabhu) and decamped with a cash of Rs.22,000/-; jewellery weighing 163.25 sovereigns and silverware weighing 33-1/2 kgs; in the course of the same transaction, they removed the jewels from the person of Sheela and therefore triable under sections 449 read with 34 I.P.C (A1 to A3); 302 I.P.C (A3); 302 read with 114 I.P.C (A1 and A2); 302 read with 34 I.P.C (2 counts) (A1 to A3); 392 read with 397 I.P.C (A1 to A3) and 404 I.P.C (A1 to A3). To prove their case, the prosecution examined P.Ws.1 to 21, besides marking Exs.P.1 to P.40 and M.Os.1 to 76. The defence on their side examined four witnesses as D.Ws.1 to 4 and marked Exs.D.1 to D.16. Admittedly, there are no eye witnesses to the crime. The persons killed in this case are husband, wife and their son. P.W.2 is working as the servant-maid in the house of the deceased since two years prior to the occurrence. Everyday she used to report for duty in their house at 8.30 a.m; complete her work at 10.30 or 11.00 a.m; report for duty again in the evening at about 4.00 p.m and go back to her house between 5.00 and 5.30 p.m. At 8.30 a.m on 11. 2005, as usual she reported for duty in the house of the deceased. She pressed the calling bell twice but there was no response. Therefore thinking that she can tap the door, she went towards the door and when she put her hand on the door, it opened on its own. Normally, the door would remain bolted from inside and it would always be opened by removing the bolt from inside. P.W.2 entered the house and noticed that the television was not switched off at all. In the hall, she found Prabhu lying dead with his throat slit. In the adjoining bed room on the left side, Mohan Rao was also found lying dead in a pool of blood. The clothes available in the cup-board were found on him. P.W.2 entered the kitchen, where she found Sheela also lying dead. She noticed that the Mangalsutra and the bangles (M.Os.2 and 1), which will always be on the person of Sheela, were missing. Then P.W.2 rushed to the house of P.W.1, who is the elder brother of Mohan Rao and informed him. P.W.1 went to Mohan Raos house with P.W.2 and observed the same. Then P.W.1 left to the police station to give a complaint. P.W.2 was examined by the police in the house itself. P.W.2 came to know that the accused were arrested on 111. 2005 and they were in the police station. Out of anxiety, she also went to the police station, where, she identified M.Os.1 and 2, which were found blood stained.

3. P.W.1 is the elder brother of Mohan Rao. At 9.00 a.m on 11. 2005, P.W.2 came to his house and informed him about the crime and after making preliminary enquiries with her, P.W.1 rushed to his brothers house along with P.W.2, where, he found his brother, brothers wife and nephew lying dead in different places of the house. He also observed that on the dead body of Mohan Rao, the clothes from the cup board were found strewn. H