JUDGMENT :

S. Acharya, J. - The Appellants stand convicted u/s 304 Part-II read with Section 149, Indian Penal Code. Excepting Kantha Pradhan Appellant No. 4, each of the other four Appellants has been sentenced thereunder to undergo R.I. for five years. On consideration of the old age of Appellant No. 4 he has been sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment only for six months.

2. The prosecution case in short is that Padhan Bandha in village Kaliaguda belonged to deceased. Braja Pradhan as it was his ancestral property, and he and his family members were in possession of the said tank all along. Arjuna Pradhan Appellant No. 1, then Satpanch of Badabarasingi Gram Panchayat, illegally claimed that the said tank belonged to the Gram Panchayat. Prior to the occurrence a criminal case for theft of fish from the said tank had been launched against the deceased and some of his family members by the Members of the Gram Panchayat. While that case was pending, the Gram Panchayat decided to catch fish from the said tank and on the date of occurrence, i.e. 24.11.1969, the Gram Panchayat engaged fishermen for the purpose of catching fish in the said tank, and by about 10 a.m. on that day Appellan