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6. Thereby accused Nos.1 to 9 have committed the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 323, 324, 302, 307, 451, 504, 506, r/w 149 of IPC. PW1-Sri. Maruti S/o Tirukappa Kari lodged the first information with Haveri rural police against all the accused as per Ex.P9 requesting to initiate legal action against all the accused.

6. After registering the case in Crime No.152/2012 of Guttal police station, the investigation was undertaken and charge sheet was filed. Since the offence alleged against the accused were exclusively triable before the Court of Sessions, the learned Magistrate took cognizance of the matter and after following the procedure as contemplated under Sections 207 and 208 of Cr.P.C., passed the committal

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order as required under Section 209 of Cr.P.C. The learned Principal District and Sessions Judge, Haveri, after securing the presence of all the accused framed charges against the accused for the above said offences. Accused have pleaded not guilty and they claimed to be tried. After hearing the prosecution and the learned Advocate for the accused, the trial Court fixed the trial.

7. The prosecution in order to prove the guilt of the accused, got examined 31 witnesses, got marked 31 documents and identified 16 material objects. The statements of the accused were recorded under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. The accused have denied the incriminating materials available on record and

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was shifted to District Hospital, Haveri and the doctor at the District Hospital referred the injured to KIMS, Hubballi and while shifting the injured in an ambulance, Honnappa was succumbed to the injuries on the way and therefore the dead body was brought back to the District Hospital, Haveri and injured PW6 was taken to KIMS, Hubballi. PW1 stated that he was not in a position to lodge the complaint, as he was in a state of shock, as his brother Honnappa had succumbed to the injuries. This version of PW1 cannot be rejected as it is quite natural for a family member to be in shock, when such an incident takes place and one of his close relative succumbs to the injuries sustained by him. PW1 further stated that he requested PW28 to

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write the information and accordingly he wrote the first information as per Ex.P9 and the FIR was registered at 1.30 pm as per Ex.P24-FIR. We do not find any unnaturality in the conduct of PW1 in that regard. Moreover the scene of offence is situated about 20kms away from Guttal police station, where the FIR was registered. The injured were shifted from the scene of offence to Haveri, which is said to be 20kms away from there, again they were shifted to KIMS, Hubballi. Again the dead body was brought back to the District Hospital, Haveri. In the meantime, few hours might have lapsed. Therefore it cannot be said that there is inordinate delay in lodging the complaint. Nothing has been placed before the Court to form an opinion that PW1 gained time and the