In Brief
Mewa Ram and Mohan Lal were convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC for the murder of Deputy Singh. While Mewa Ram fired the fatal shot, the case against Mohan Lal rested on his alleged exhortation to 'kill the bastard'. The Supreme Court held that this exhortation was directed at the complainant Harbans Singh, not the deceased, and therefore did not establish common intention to kill Deputy Singh. The Court set aside Mohan Lal's conviction, holding that Section 34 requires proof of a shared conscious intention to commit the specific crime. Mewa Ram's conviction was upheld.
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