JUDGMENT :

C.Praveen Kumar, J.

1. Sole accused in Sessions Case No.186 of 2013 on the file of the VII Additional Sessions Judge, SPSR Nellore District at Gudur is the appellant herein. He was tried for the offences punishable under Sections 498A and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) for subjecting his wife by name Puttamma to cruelty and causing her death on 14.04.2012. Vide judgment dated 16.07.2015, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the accused under both the counts and sentenced him to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.2,000/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of six months for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay fine of Rs.1,000/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of two months for the offence punishable under Section 498A IPC. The substantive sentences were directed to run concurrently. Assailing the same, the present Criminal Appeal is filed.

2. The facts, as revealed from the evidence of prosecution witnesses, are as under.

P.Ws.8 and 9 are sisters of the deceased Puttamma, while the accused is the husband of the deceased. Marriage of the acc