K.T.THOMAS, J.

(1) ABDUCTION and triple infanticide are the gravamen of this case. Kids, male and female, were abducted not for ransom but for their blood to propitiate gods to reveal the spot beneath which a treasure trove was believed to have been embedded. What finally disinterred were not the treasures-not even a tiny bit of it-but the putrefied corpses of three infants whose blood had copiously been collected in vain for searching out a non existing cauldron of jewelleries. One of the abducted kids (Sagar) was not destined to die then as he escaped from the clutches of the kidnappers and his infantile recollections were utilised by the prosecution to tell the tale to the Court.

(2) THE Sessions Judge found all the four persons who were arraigned before him for such grisly perpetrated acts, guilty of the offences charged against them and they were all sentenced to death. But a Division Bench of the High Court of Bombay, Aurangabad Bench (VK Barde and JA Patil, JJ) extended benefit of doubt which they entertained and set all the accused free. This is the appeal which the State of Maharashtra has filed by Special Leave in challenge of the order of acquittal.

(3) SRI Satish Chandra B.Subrik learned counsel who entered appearance for the accused rePORted to us that the first accused (Damu Gopinath) died during the pendency of this appeal and hence the appeal as against him can be treated as abated. The remaining three respondents are A2-Gangadhar Gitaram Kotka @ Guruji, AS-Mukinda Anna Thorat and A4 -Dhananjaya @ Balu Joshi. It is convenient for us to refer to them in the rank as they were arraigned as accused in the trial court.

(4) THE events narrated in this case have the silhoutte of a crime thriller. Mystery hovered around Chanda village in Newasa Taluk (Ahmadnagar district in Maharashtra) over the sudden disappearances of children one after the other. Horror struck the minds of the villagers when cadavers of the children were recovered one after another from a canal which flowed through Newasa.

(5) THE episodes started on 4.3.1992 when a little girl by name Meera (one of the four children of Ramdas) was missing from her house. The elders of the family made hectic searches and then caused announcements to be broadcast through loudspeakers fitted at the Gram Panchayats office regarding the disappearance of the child. Next day a complaint was lodged with the police. On the third day her dead body was recovered from the canal flowing through the locality. It was wrapped in a gunny bag made for urea storage. Among the injuries noted on the dead body two were so peculiar that the mystery deepened further. Dr. Ramprasad (Public witness 33) who conducted autopsy on the body has described one injury as anti-mortem and the other as post-mortem. The former was multiple abrasions on the left labia majora on the lateral aspect. The latter was a "triangular wound on the perennial region just posterior to vaginal opening." Public witness 33 Doctor opined from the other injuries noted by him that death of Meera was caused by throttling.

(6) ON 9.2.1994 a five-year-old kid by name Devidas (one of the two children of Public witness 26 Khandu) was found missing. A complaint was lodged with the police on the succeeding day and three days later the dead body of Devidas was found floating in the canal at Dedgaon in Newasa Taluk. He had an injury on the back of his head and his penis was seen chopped off. His father Public witness 26, a rustic villager, wished to avert a post-mortem examination on the remainings of his dear child and hence he did not choose to inform the police about recovery of the dead body.

(7) ON 13.2.1995 another little male child by name Deepak (who was then studying in the 2nd standard) was found missing from his house. His father Public witness 2 Suresh deputed his uncle to lodge the complaint with the police. Three days later the dead body of Deepak