S. Nagamuthu, J.

The appellant, the sole Accused in S.C.No.184 of 2011 on the file of the learned I Additional Sessions Judge, Tiruvallur, who stands convicted for offence under Sections 302 and 307 of IPC and under Section 27 of The Arms Act, 1959 and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a further period of six months for offence under Section 302 of IPC; and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a further period of six months for offence under Section 307 of IPC and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a further period of six months for offence under Section 27 of The Arms Act, 1959, has come up with this criminal appeal challenging the above said conviction and sentences.

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows:- The accused is a resident of Door No.2/695, Sholinghur Road, R.K.Pet Village, Pallipattu Taluk, Tiruvallur District. He was working as a Head Constable at Mappedu Police Station in Tiruvallur District. P.W.3 was the Sub Inspector of Police of the said Police Station. On 08.07.2009, P.W.3 received a message from the Office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police to depute a police constable from the said police station for Escort Duty to escort the accused from the Central Prison, Puzhal, Chennai to Court and from Court to Central Prison. P.W.3, accordingly, deputed the accused for the said duty and issued a transit passport [Ex.P.1] to the accused. The accused was to escort the under-trial prisoners on 09.07.2009. The accused, accordingly, reported to P.W.4, the then Head Constable attached to Armory, Armed Reserve, Tiruvallur, on 09.07.2009. After making necessary entries in the register, P.W.4, handed over the accused, a .303 Rifle [Gun] with butt AR56/TLR [Body No.31505] and 10 Nos. of cartridges. P.W.4 also handed over 778 model handcuff (1 No.), 109 model handcuff (1 No.) and 532 model handcuff (2 Nos.). After making necessary entries in the register (Ex.P6), the accused left the Office of P.W.4 with the above arms and ammunitions and handcuffs. Accordingly, the accused went to Central Prison, Puzhal, Chennai along with the other police constables. P.W.5, the Superintendent of Central Prison, after making necessary entries in the relevant registers, handed over a total number of six under-trial prisoners to the accused and the other police constables for being escorted to the court of Judicial Magistrate at Tiruttani and to bring them back to the prison. The under-trial prisoners were (1) Appu @ Yuvaraj (P.W.18), (2) Semon (P.W.34), (3) Dhanasekaran (the deceased), (4) Chinna Kesavan, (5) Murugan @ Mettur Murugan and (6) Ramalingam @ Kareem. These under-trial prisoners were taken out of the prison by escort police party, including the accused at 10.51 a.m. on 09.07.2009.

2.1. From the prison, the under-trial prisoners were taken in the police van bearing Regn. No. TN 20 G 0272. For the purposes of safety, the escort police handcuffed the under-trial prisoners in pairs. The under-trial prisoners (1) Dhanasekaran and (2) Semon were handcuffed together by means of a single handcuff. The right hand of the deceased was handcuffed with the left hand of P.W.34. Similarly, the other accused were also handcuffed by making them as pairs. The deceased was sitting in the last row in the van. Just in front of him, in the next forward seat the deceased and P.W.34 were sitting. P.W.34 was sitting by the side of the widow. The other under-trial prisoners were sitting in the other seats. The van took off its journey around 10.30 a.m. from Central Prison Puzha, Chennai, towards Tiruttani. Around 12.30 p.m., the van was passing through Pattaraithang