JUDGMENT

P. Sathasivam, J. —

1) This appeal is directed against the final judgment and order dated 14.03.2005 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in Criminal Appeal No. 774 of 1996 whereby the Division Bench of the High Court upheld the judgment dated 26.02.1996 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Sagar, in Sessions Case No. 196 of 1995 convicting the appellant herein under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (in short ‘the IPC’) and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months.

2) Brief Facts:

(a) In Village Chandpur, the accused Prahalad Patel, while cultivating his land had thrown bushes on the path. Daulat-the deceased objected to it and told the accused not to throw the bushes on the path, because of this, there was an altercation between the deceased and the accused. Due to this incident, the accused developed a grudge against the deceased. On 01.02.1995, at around 12 hours, when the deceased was breaking stones in the mine and one Nanhebhai (PW-1) was collecting it nearby, at that time, accused Prahalad Patel came there with an axe and inflicted several injur