JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court upholding the conviction of the appellant for the offence punishable under Sections 302, 321 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the ‘IPC’) and sentence of life, nine months and nine months respectively and fine with default stipulation.

3. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows:

The accused Shiva Karam Payaswami Tewar was working in Hotel Premier run by the complainant Anthony Xavier at Dharavi, Mumbai-70. The accused was entrusted with the work of preparation of spices. Muttukumar (hereinafter referred to as the ‘deceased’) was working as a manager in the said hotel. Considering the nature of their work the accused as well as Muttukumar used to stay overnight in the hotel.

On 31.8.1995 in the evening complainant Anthony Xavier went to the Hotel Premier and after usual supervision and talk with manager at night he returned. At that time the accused as well as Muttukumar were in the hotel. On the next day morning i.e. on 1.9.1995 one Murugan Shetiya working in the hotel went to Anthony (PW-1) and told him that the hote