Somarajan, J.

Against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence in S.C.No.783 of 2008 of Sessions Court, Thalassery dated 5.1.2013, the accused Nos.1 and 2 came up with this appeal. Accused No.1 was found guilty for the offence punishable under Ss.302 and 307 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.1,00,000/-, in default, to undergo SI for six months for the offence under S.302 and sentenced to undergo RI for six years and a fine of Rs.25,000/- in default to undergo SI for three months for the offence punishable under S.307 with a direction to undergo substantive sentence concurrently and to release the fine amount to the legal heirs of deceased Shyju @ Ambily. Accused No.2 was found guilty for the offence punishable under S.325 and sentenced to undergo RI for a period of six months.

2. During the pendency of the appeal, accused No.1 passed away. Since there is an order for payment of fine, the legal heirs impleaded themselves as additional appellants 3 and 4 and accused No.2 was recorded as one of the legal heirs of deceased accused No.1/the first appellant.

3. One of the main question that came up for consideration is whethe