JUDGMENT :

Goutam Bhaduri, J.

1. The present appeal is against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 15-7-2020 passed by the 12th Additional Sessions Judge, Raipur, in S.T. No.193/2016 whereby the appellant has been convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘the IPC’) and under Sections 4 read with Section 25 (1-b) (b) & 27 (1) of the Arms Act and sentenced him to undergo Life Imprisonment; imprisonment for 3 years and imprisonment for 7 years, respectively with usual default stipulations. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

2. (i) Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that prior to 17-6-2016 the appellant Abhishek Diwan lost money in IPL gambling. He obtained loan of Rs.25,000/- from Akash Tiwari (since deceased). Thereafter, within a period of one month he had returned an amount of Rs.35,000/- to the deceased. In this regard, before a week from 17-6-2016 some quarrel took place between the accused and the deceased. For which the accused was holding animosity against the deceased. On 17-6-2016 at about 8.00 pm, the deceased along with his friends namely; Piyush Shukla (PW-14) and Atit Pandey (PW- 11) were near at Baniyan Tree