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The grounds given by the High Court for enhancing the sentence were: the motive was to avenge the murder of the appellant's brother in-law Gurnam Singh committed about 7 or 8 years prior to the occurrence so that there could,be no immediate provocation; the three murders were committed "in a very cold blooded and brutal manner when the deceased were sleeping on their cots"; two shots from a 1 2 bore, gun had been fired at each of the three murdered men "indicating the determination to give no chance of survival to anyone"; "the time selected for the murder was such that no possible help could be rendered to prevent the death of any of the three deceased and no obstruction could be possible to carry out the design of committing these murders". Before giving these reasons, quoted mostly in the words of the High Court itself, the High Court had relied on observations of this Court in Apren Joseph & Ors. Vs. The State of Kerala:(1) "The determination of sentence in a given case depends on a variety of considerations, the more, important being, the nature of the crime, the manner of its commission, the motive which impelled it and the character and antecedents of accuseds".