JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-The appellant was convicted by the learned Sessions Judge, Mahila Court, Vijayawada for a charge of having committed the murder of his wife V. Siva Parvathi by throttling her in the house of his father-in law (PW-1) in Kanakadurgapuram, hamlet of Rayyuru Village on 8.2.1993. His conviction and sentence was upheld by the High Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad. Therefore, the appellant is before us in this appeal.

2. Briefly stated the prosecution case is that the marriage of the appellant was performed with the deceased about 4 years prior to the incident. The appellant, according to the prosecution, was not holding any permanent job and was addicted to drinking and gambling. Therefore, there was a marital discord between the husband and wife. It is stated that on 7.2.1993 the appellant went to the house of PW-1 in a drunken state and took his daughter Lakshmi along with him on that night. On 8.2.1993, father-in-law (PW-1) and Mother-in-law (PW-2) had gone to their field for work at about 9 a.m. It is stated that PW-1 returned to his house and then he noticed the appellant throttling the deceased in the house on the southern side of the cour