JUDGMENT

Bhide, J. - The above sets of appeals arise out of three different cases in connexion with a series o? thefts of copper and brass scrap and engine parts in the Loco Workshop of the N.W. Ry. at Lahore, said to have been committed by a gang of which the appellants are alleged to be members. In one of the cases the accused persons were charged with being members of the gang under Section 401, I.P.C., and seven out of them were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment from 2 to 6 years with fine. In the other two cases, certain members of the gang were charged under Section 457, 457/109 and 411, I.P.C., with theft, abetment of theft or receipt of stolen property on specific occasions, and some of them were convicted and sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment. The material facts alleged by the prosecution were very briefly as follows:

Jan Mohammad, son of Pir Bakhsh, one of the appellants, who was employed as a Mistri in the Loco Workshop of the N.W. Ry., along with Mirdad and Khan Zaman who were also employed there and who were all acquainted with the ins and outs of the place organized these thefts. Jan Mohammad took into his confidence his friend Ghulam Ali (appellant) and his servant Eazal Karim (who has turned an approver) and the services of some of the watchmen in the Loco Workshop were also secured for the purpose. The appellants Arjan Das and Piare Lal, two brothers, their father-in-law Niranjan Das, and Kunj are alleged to have only assisted in the disposal of the stolen property. The modus operandi of the gang was as follows: In the early part of the night some members of the gang went to a spot near Gate No. 13 of the Loco Workshop with empty gunny bags and entered the workshop by jumping over the wall. They collected in the bags the brass and copper borings which used to be stacked there in heaps with the help of the chowkidars and then used to sleep near the compound, wall. About 3 or 4 a.m. a lorry used to be brought by some of the other members of the gang and the bags were then thrown out over the compound wall and taken away in the lorry. In most cases the bags were conveyed to Chheharta (a small railway station near Amritsar) or Amritsar, and were received there by Arjan Das, Piare Lal, etc. They were then booked by the latter to different destinations.

2. According to the prosecution, thefts were attempted or committed in the above manner on 29 different occasions from about the beginning of September 1929 to 22nd October 1929. The last theft was attempted on the night of 2nd and 23rd October 1929, but the police, who had obtained information about it and organized a raid, succeeded in capturing the lorry with the stolen property and two of the culprits, viz. appellants Warris and JalaL, the lorry driver, who has also become an approver. The other culprits escaped but out of them Jan Mohammad son of Pir Bakhsh, Ohulam Ali, Khan Zaman and Fazal Karim were identified. The stolen property found in the lorry consisted of 25 bags full of brass and iron scrap, 25 iron pieces and one, copper plate. The next day, Khan Zaman and Eazal Karim were arrested and a few days later Jan Mohammad, son of Pir Bakhsh, Ghulam Ali and Kunj were also arrested. Out of the arrested persons Fazal Karim and Jalal were tendered pardon and as a result of the investigation which followed the appellants along with certain other persons (who have been acquitted for want of adequate evidence) were challaned.

3. As stated already, the present appeals have arisen out of three different cases. The first set of appeals (A) relates to the gang case under Section 401, I.P.C. The segond set (B) relates to the 29th trip when the police organized a raid and succeeded in capturing two of the culprits with the stolen property. This case will hereafter be referred to as the "police raid case." The last appeal (C) relates to thefts committed on the hights of 20th/21st and 21st/22nd September 1929. The property stolen on these nights was sent to Rewa