JUDGMENT :

M. M. SUNDRESH, J.

1. Life imprisonment rendered by the Court of Fourth Additional Sessions Judge, Chhattarpur, Madhya Pradesh with the imprimatur of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh is assailed before us.

FACTS THROUGH THE PROSECUTION EYES

2. On 27.04.2001, the deceased Main Babu was allegedly shot dead and killed by three accused namely, Baijnath, Virendra and Suresh over a long pending property dispute, despite verdicts in their favour. Baijnath, who was the father of the other two accused, died during the trial. For the occurrence that happened at 07:30 a.m., the First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by PW14, the father of the deceased at 08:30 a.m. PW16, the Investigating Officer, arrested the accused on the next day followed by recoveries of firearms from Virendra (appellant herein) and Suresh and thereafter completed the investigation.

3. The accused were charged under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the provisions of the Arms Act and tried accordingly. The prosecution examined 17 witnesses as against 8 by the defence. The trial court rendered a conviction against the appellant and the co-accused Suresh. The co-accused did not ch