JAGANNATHA SHETTY, J.

( 1 ) THIS appears to be an unfortunate case in which the appellant-accused has been convicted for murdering his brother wholly on irrelevant evidence and purely on surmises. Nageudra (PW. 18), Deputy Superintendent of Police, who conducted the investigation, and the learned Sessions Judge, who tried the case, must bear the blame equally. The investigation conducted by PW18 was casual in nature, and. the judgment of the learned sessions Judge, who tried the case, is no better. We are constrained to make these observations at the beginning, although mere unfolding of the prosecution case itself would justify a serious condemnation.

( 2 ) THE prosecution case to put it briefly, is as follows : Yogappa alias Yogesh the deceased Was a brother of Eswarappa the accused. Siddaramappa (PW1) is their father. Like most of the agriculturists in the villages, the deceased and the accused used to sleep together in their thrashing floor near their lands. On the night of 24th December 1974, as usual, they slept there. Late in the night, the accused got up on hearing the sound of a boulder falling down and saw three or four persons running away. He saw his brother lying dead

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