ORDER : K. Ramaswamy, J. 1. Leave granted. Notice was issued on the limited question as to the nature of the offence and the sentence to be imposed on the appellant. 2. The facts of the case are not in dispute. On 12-3-1985 at about 8.45 p.m. in beach road, Cochin the appellant and the deceased - Wilson were at loggerheads on a petty incident in which the appellant, in the wordy altercation, drew his knife from the waist and hit the deceased on the abdomen and ran away with the weapon. The deceased was taken to the hospital immediately. The doctor operated upon the deceased and stitched the wound. On the next day he died. At the autopsy PW 21 found that the injury was fatal as a consequence of which the deceased died. Accordingly, the appellant was convicted by the trial court for an offence under Section 302 Indian Penal Code and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. On appeal, in the impugned judgment the High Court of Kerala confirmed it. 3. The only question is what offence the appellant had committed. The doctor - PW 21 has admitted in the cross-examination that after the treatment was given and operation was done, on the next day the deceased suffered a cardiac arrest. It was not elicited in re-examination whether cardiac arrest was due to injury caused by the appellant. It cannot, therefore, definitely be said from this evidence that the death was due to injury caused by the appellant alone, maybe due to subsequent supervening event, namely, cardiac arrest occurred in the usual course in the morning on 13-3-1985. Under these circumstances, it cannot definitely be held that the offence is one of culpable homicide amounting to murder. Accordingly, the conviction for the offence under Section 302 Indian Penal Code is set aside and instead the appellant is convicted for an offence under Section 304 Part II Indian Penal Code and he is directed to undergo imprisonment for a period of 5 years. Since the appellant has been in jail all through and completed 5 years, he shall be entitled to be released forthwith unless he is required in any other case. 4. The appeal is accordingly allowed. Appeal allowed.