Judgment

Pinaki Chandra Ghose, J.

1. In these appeals, by special leave, the appellants have challenged the judgment and order dated 8th April, 2011 passed by the High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital, in Criminal Appeal No.675 of 2001, whereby the High Court has dismissed the appeals preferred by the appellants herein and confirmed the judgment and order of the Additional Sessions Judge/Special Judge, Anti Corruption, U.P. (East), Dehradun, convicting the appellants under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short “I.P.C.”) and sentencing them to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- each.

2. The facts pertinent to the case, as unfolded by the prosecution, are that on 24.9.96 at about 10:30 A.M., Vipin Singh Negi, Alok Chandana, Suyesh Kukreti and Rajneesh Chhatwal were standing near the cycle stand, situated within the campus of D.A.V. (P.G.) College, Dehradun and at the same time, accused Dheeraj Kalra along with Rish Kumar, Som Prakash, Saurabh, Nitin @ Vippu, Bhagat and Sanjeev Kumar @ Happy armed with Lathis, Knives and Khukries reached there and asked Vipin Singh Singh Negi and Alok Chandana to withdraw their names from the election