JUDGMENT

Lokeshwar Singh Panta, J. —

1. The appellant has filed this appeal under Section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short ‘Cr.P.C.”) read with Section 2(A) of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 read with Order 21 Rules XII to XXIX of the Supreme Court Rules, 1966, against the judgment and order dated 09.03.2007 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Nagpur Bench, Nagpur. By the judgment under challenge, the High Court has partly set aside the judgment dated 25.01.1990 of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Bhandara, passed in Sessions Trial No.44/88 convicting the appellant under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code [for short ‘IPC’] and sentencing him to imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- with default clause to suffer further six months’ R.I. The appellant, however, has been acquitted for the offences punishable under Sections 307 and 324 of the IPC and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.

2. Brief facts, which led to the trial of the accused, are as follows :-

The appellant-Mahesh and one Sunita were residents of Bastarwari Ward, Paoni, Tehsil Paoni, District Bha