Mack, J.- The two appellants, who incidentally bear the same name, have been found guilty under section 302, Indian Penal Code, of the murder of Sellappa Reddiar, an elderly man in the early hours of the 17th of May, 1951, on a pathway leading from Paravoi village to Ariyalur, the nearest centre with a District Munsiff’s Court and regular lawyers.

2. The prosecution case is that the 1st accused and the deceased were proceeding together from their village of Vedakkalur to Ariyalur via Paravoi where they halted for some hours on the night of the 16th of May, 1951. They left Paravoi together in the early hours of the 17th of August, when about 1½ miles from Paravoi, the 2nd accused with implements for murder and burial by prior arrangement with the 1st accused came on the scene. Sellappa Reddiar was killed on the pathway and then buried about half a furlong away. It was not till the 24th of May seven days later that his body was dug up.

3. The motive centres round the deceased’s young wife Bangaru Ammal P.W. 2, now aged 18, whom he is said to have married when over 40 when she was only about nine years old. This girl came from a poor family of Paravoi. The 2nd accused is her