JUDGMENT

Y.K. Sabharwal, J.-The conviction of the appellant for offence under Section 302 IPC has been confirmed by the impugned judgment of the High Court. The main question to be determined in this appeal is whether the sole eye-witness on whose testimony the conviction is primarily based is partly reliable or wholly unreliable.

2. Facts in brief are that on the date of incident, the deceased went with his elder son Mahesh (PW 4) to market and when at about 12.00 noon, he was coming out from a shop after purchasing a bundle of bidi, the appellant fired at him from 12 bore rifle. The shot hit the deceased above the waste on his backbone. The appellant was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Giriraj who had a katta, father, who had a gupti and brother who also had a katta. The incident was seen by PW 6 and PW 5. The deceased was taken to a hospital but seems to have died on the spot.

3. The appellant and Giriraj, his brother-in-law were put up for trial. In respect of father and brother of the appellant, informant (PW 4) gave in writing that their names had been wrongly mentioned and, therefore, no action be taken against them.

4. The Sessions Court, on appreciation of evidence, in par