S. Nagamuthu, J.

1. The appellant is the sole accused in S.C. No. 118 of 2010 on the file of the Principal Sessions Judge, Dharmapuri Division. He stood charged for offences under Sections 302 and 201 r/w 302 of IPC. The trial court, by judgment dated 28.11.2013, convicted the accused under Section 302 of IPC and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for three months. The trial court, however, acquitted the accused from the charge under Section 201 r/w 302 of IPC. Challenging the above said conviction and sentence, the accused has come up with this criminal appeal.

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows:-

The deceased in this case was one Mr. Chinnaramulu Naidu. He was a resident of Mallupatti Village. P.W.1 is his son. The accused is a close relative of the deceased. The accused is also a resident of the same village. The family of the deceased had coconut and mango trees in their Farm. Three days prior to the occurrence, when P.W.1 and the deceased were working in the farm, the accused came there and plucked coconuts from one of the coconut trees belonging to the deceased. On seeing the same, the deceased shouted at him. Immediately, the accused attempted to attack the deceased. P.W.1 made a timely intervention and separated them. Thereafter, the accused left the place. It is alleged that at that time, the accused told that one day or the other, he would cut the deceased. Again on 13.04.2010, P.W.1 and the deceased were proceeding towards the very same farm from their house. On their way, near a mango grove belonging to one Chinnapaiyan, the accused came from the opposite direction with an aruval in his hand and on reaching the deceased, he cut the deceased on his head, right shoulder and back of chest. The deceased fell down in a pool of blood. P.W.1 raised alarm. P.W.2, the sister of the deceased, on hearing the alarm, rushed to the place of occurrence where she found the deceased lying with injuries and the accused was standing there. P.W.1 was crying for help. P.W.3 also rushed to the place of occurrence. According to P.Ws.2 and 3, on seeing them, the accused ran away from the place of occurrence with aruval. The deceased died instantaneously. P.W.1 rushed to Mahendramangalam Police Station and at 10.00 a.m. he made a complaint (Ex.P.1). P.W.10, the then Sub Inspector of Police, on receipt of the same complaint, registered a case in crime No.93 of 2010 under Section 302 of IPC against the accused. Then, he forwarded both the complaint-Ex.P1 and the FIR-Ex.P10 to the court which were received by the learned jurisdictional Magistrate at 02.30 p.m. on the same day. P.W.10, thereafter, handed over the case diary to the Inspector of Police for investigation.

3. P.W.12, taking up the case for investigation, visited the place of occurrence, prepared an observation mahazar (Ex.P2) and a rough sketch (Ex.P11) in the presence of P.W.5 and another. He also recovered some blood stained earth and sample earth under a mahazar (Ex.P3) in the presence of the same witnesses. Then, he conducted inquest on the body of the deceased in the presence of the panchayatars and prepared an inquest report (Ex.P12). After the inquest proceedings were over, P.W.12 forwarded the dead body to the Palacode Government Hospital for postmortem.

4. P.W.7, Dr. G. Balakrishnan, conducted autopsy on the body of the deceased at 04.30 p.m. on 13.04.2010. He found the following injuries on the body of the deceased:-

"External Injuries:

(1) About 18 X 12 X 8 cm incised cut injury present over both occipital region extending b/w both sternocleidomastoid muscles exposed cerebellum and cerebrum stem.

(2) About 6 x 5 x 4 cm size cut injury right forearm exposed bone and muscle.

(3) About 8 x 7 x 4 cm size punctured wound over upper inter scapular region.

(4) About 10 x 5 x 4 cm incised cut injury over right parietal region exposed brain matter.

(5) About 8 x 4 x 3 cm size