JUDGMENT

K. V. Jayakumar, J.

This appeal is preferred by the sole accused in S.C. No.1461/2014 of the Additional Sessions Court-VI, Thiruvananthapuram. The appellant stood for trial for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (‘ IPC ’ for the sake of brevity).

2. The learned Sessions Judge found the accused guilty of the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC , convicted and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 3,00,000/- with default sentence to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years. It is further directed that if the fine amount is realised, it shall be paid as compensation to the mother of the deceased.

The prosecution case

4. In this case, the prosecution depicts the story of a brutal murder of a boy aged 19 years, namely Shehanshah, on a trivial reason that the deceased had not repaid a meagre sum of Rs. 100/- allegedly borrowed from the accused.

5. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 11.05.2012 at about 7.30 p.m. at Kariyara on the public road from Karumom to Madupalam in Nenmon Village, the deceased, Shehanshah, was conversing with PWs. 2, 4, and 5, the accused, due to previous animosity, caug