- (1.) I. P. Vasishtha, J. Both these ap peals are directed against one common judgment of conviction and order of sen tence, dated 24-3-1983 passed by J. P. Agrawal, the then Sessions Judge, Faizabad requiring them to undergo life imprisonment for the offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
(2.) THE appellants along with four others were prosecuted by Faizabad Kotwali police for having committed the mur ders of Smt. Bhagwati Devi, Smt. Rajdei, Km. Lata and an infant child Lachhaman on 2-12-1981 at around 12 noon in the heart of the town Faizabad. All of them were related inter se and members of an extended family including the appellants. THE genesis of rancour lay in a family dis pute over proeprty as according to the prosecution their ancestor Jagannath was quite a rich man with considerable agricul tural and other landed properly situated at Faizabad and in some surrounding vil lages. He had three sons viz. , Sant Kishore, Hans Kishore and the complainant PW 1 Tulsi Ram. In 1960 Sant Kishore separated from the family and got 35 bighas of land, two residential houses and a shop besides some cash in lieu of his share. In 1975 Hans Kishore also parted company at the insis tence of his son Ajai Kumar (appellant) and that left Tulsi Ram alone with his parents. The accused Santosh Kumar alias Bachcha is one of the sons of Sant Kishore who was stated to be a man of extravagant habits and so he took one muslim lady as his keep. This relationship did not prove healthy for his immediate family members as it threw him in a lot of financial difficul ties. Similarly, Hans Kishore also could not manage his affairs properly, firstly, because of lack of attention to the business on account of ill-health and secondly be cause he too had started living with a keep named Burma. Accused Ajai Kumar is one of the sons of his legally wedded wife. Sant Kishore pre-deceased them all thus passing on the burden of the biological family to his son Santosh Kumar alias Bachcha and others. In 1975 Jagan nath expired. Four years later Hans Kishore and former's wife also expired. It was stated that Tulsi Ram was a worldly-wise and practical person who managed his affairs properly to keep intact his share of the property, though in the process it in vited rancour and jealousy of the children of his brothers.
(3.) ABOUT eighteen years prior to the unfortunate occurrence of December, 1981, Tulsi Ram was married to one Nirmala Devi of village Chunar, district Varanasi. He got one son viz. PW 3 Vivek Kumar from that wedlock. However Nirmala Devi developed some psychic prob lem and so with her consent Tulsi Ram took Smt. Bhagwati Devi (deceased) as his second wife. From this marriage he was blessed with three children including the deceased daughter Lata and son Lachhaman. Lata was around five years of ageat the time of incident whereas Lachhaman was an infant of about eight months only. The third child, namely, Pushpa was a primary class student. It was against such back-drop of stark difference in progress and prosperity that the children of Hans Kishore and Sant Kishore were living in the same neigh bourhood of mohalla Kandhari Bazar where Tulsi Ram was also putting up with his children in the ancestral home.;