JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-The appellant in this case has been convicted by the Sessions Judge, Kollam, for an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC for having committed the murder of his mother Saramma on 28.7.1996 at about 10 a.m. at their house in Kottarakkara village by pouring kerosene on her and setting her ablaze. It is the prosecution case that suspecting his mother would give away her entire earnings to her 3 daughters to his exclusion, the appellant committed this crime. It is the prosecution case that even though the deceased was set afire while she was sitting in a chair at about 10 a.m., nobody witnessed the incident in question and it is only about 4.30 p.m. when PW-2, the grand-daughter of the deceased, came to the house, she came to know of the incident. The prosecution also alleges that by that time the concerned Police had received an anonymous telephone call intimating of the incident in question as having been caused by the deceased s son. Registering a case based on the said information in the general diary, the Police also came to the house of the deceased and found her seriously burnt, hence, took her to Kottarakkara hospital where PW-3, the doctor, gave he