Hon’ble Mrs. Vijay Lakshmi, J.—Both these criminal appeals, arising out of the same judgment and order dated 1.2.2007 passed by Additional Sessions Judge (F.T.C. Ist), Muzaffar Nagar in S.T. No. 184 of 2004 (State of U.P. v. Rajesh Saini and others), were connected vide order dated 13.2.2007 of this Court and are hereby decided by this common judgment.

2. The facts in brief, if the case of the prosecution were true, reveal the tragic case of one young boy Abhishek alias Lovey, who was kidnapped for ransom and was chopped off into two parts by the accused appellants, one of whom (appellant - Vikas Sharma) the boy used to call ‘uncle’. After his murder the accused appellants buried both those parts separately into the sugarcane fields.

3. The brief facts of the case as unfolded during trial are that on the fateful day i.e. 27.11.2003 the father of the deceased boy - informant Pradeep Kumar Garg, who is a practicing advocate in Tehsil Court, Jansath, district Muzaffar Nagar, had gone to tehsil Jansath for his work leaving his wife, daughter and son, deceased Abhishek, at his home. At about 3.30 p.m. his wife rang him up and informed that just after he had left, accused Vikas S