In Brief
In this criminal appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's conviction of five accused (Suspects 1-4 and Ashok Das) for murder under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC (unlawful assembly liability), reversing the trial court's acquittal of Suspects 1-4. The Court held that while not all accused names appeared in the FIR, their naming in early witness statements was sufficient to establish involvement. The convergent evidence of injured eye-witnesses (P.W.8, P.W.11) and by-stander P.W.7, corroborated by medical reports, proved that all five accused participated in the coordinated fatal assault with deadly weapons on a deceased victim and two others. The Court affirmed that Section 149 does not require individual overt acts but only proof of common object and participation as assembly members."
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