R. Kantha Rao, J.

The appellant (Kondidena Venkata Naga Durga Prasad @ Prasad) who is the sole accused before the VIII Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Vijayawada is the appellant herein. He was tried for the charges under Sections 302, 451 and 380 of IPC and was convicted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge for all the charges.

2. In respect of conviction for the offence under Section 302 of IPC, the appellant was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. In respect of conviction for the offences under Sections 451 and 380 of IPC, he was further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years and also to pay fine of Rs.5,000/- under each count. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

3. Challenging the said order of conviction and sentence, the appellant preferred this appeal.

4. The prosecution case in a nutshell is as follows:

On the intervening night of 10/11.06.2002 at about 1.30 a.m. LW-3, Gurkha (Dhan Bahadur) informed PW-1 (Rakesh Kumar Jain), a resident of Shivalayam street, Vijayawada city, that he noticed pawn broker shop of the deceased without locks, the doors were kept partly opened and there was no resp