JUDGMENT

Sreenivas Harish Kumar, J.—These appeals are directed against judgment of the I Addl. Sessions Court, Ballari, in S.C.No.131/2009. Accused 1 to 7 are the appellants in Criminal Appeal No.100130/2016, they have been convicted and sentenced for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 302, 120-B r/w 149 IPC; the major punishment being imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.1,00,000/- each, for each of the offences under Section 302 and Section 120B of the IPC.

2. Accused No.1 to 7 have preferred Criminal Appeal No.100130/2016 challenging their conviction for the offences noted above. The State and PW5 have preferred Criminal Appeals No.100233/2016 and 100139/2016 under Section 378 of Cr.P.C. and 372 Cr.P.C. respectively questioning the correctness of acquittal of accused No.8 and 9.

3. The name of the deceased is Virupanagowda. PW1 is his father and PW5 is his wife. The prosecution case in brief is that on 19.03.2009, when the deceased and his wife PW5 went for a morning walk at 5.45 a.m., all the accused caused his death in the presence of PW5. The place of occurrence was near Maremma Temple, Elubenchi village. PW1 made a report of this incident to the Police