Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan, J.

1. Appealing accused stands convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.5000/-, with a default sentence of imprisonment for a further period of six months, not termed as to be rigorous, and, hence, simple, on a count under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Adv.R.Muraleekrishnan appearing for the appellant, at State expense, argued that the accused was entitled to be acquitted, at least, on benefit of doubt; and, in any view of the matter, conviction and sentence are liable to be altered tapering the count to be a lesser one. Sri. K.K. Rajeev, the authorised learned public prosecutor argued that the conviction and sentence be sustained as they were inexcusable on the material legal evidence on record.

2. The gist of the prosecution case is that in the incident that occurred at about 4.30 p.m. on 07.07.2006, in a tribal settlement colony, Gopi died at the hands of the accused in the courtyard of a shed owned by that victim, wherein he and the accused were staying together, while working as coolie labourers. The allegation is that, on that evening, while the accused and the victim were alone in