JUDGMENT :

R. NARAYANA PISHARADI, J.

1. The appellant is the sole accused in the case S.C. No. 390/2002 of the Court of Session, Ernakulam. Conviction entered and sentence passed against him under Sections 326 and 324 and the first part of Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code are assailed in this appeal.

2. The prosecution case is as follows:

There was a case registered against the appellant alleging that on 01.06.1999 he had committed rape on the daughter of PW-1. On 19.08.1999, the appellant went to the house of PW-1 to have a talk of settlement of the aforesaid case. Boss, the son of the sister of PW-1, then reached the house. He was totally opposed to any compromise in the matter. A wordy altercation took place between him and the appellant. They went out of the house of PW-1 and reached the nearby pathway. Then, the appellant took out a chopper, which was concealed behind his body under the shirt, and he struck a blow with it on the neck of the deceased. He also assaulted PW-1 to PW-3 with the chopper and beat PW-1 and PW-4 with a stick and caused hurt to them. The deceased was taken to a hospital but he succumbed to the injury sustained on the neck. The incident took place at abo