JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Mohan Pandey, J.

1. This criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of the Cr.P.C. has been preferred by the appellant against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 12.06.2013 passed by the Sessions Judge, Rajnandgaon, C.G., in Sessions Trial No.41/2012, whereby the learned court below convicted the appellant herein for offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC and sentenced him to life imprisonment and fine of Rs. 3000/-, in default of payment of fine further R.I. for 1 year.

2. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 03.04.2012 at about 10:00 AM complainant Sahangu Ram (PW1) gave information to the Police Station - Manpur as to presence of an unknown dead body in Khairkatta. On the basis of said information, merg intimation (Ex.P/1) was registered. The dead body of the deceased was recovered and sent for postmortem.

3. Further case of the prosecution is that, deceased Ballar Sai was resident of Village Phulkodo and worked as a labourer, who often used to visit Village Khairkatta for labor. Two-three days after the date of incident, wife of the appellant herein namely Bisantin Bai (PW18) informed Jyoti Bai (PW4) that the deceased Ballar Sa