no such effort was made by the Investigating Officer (PW-16). 53. The statements of Dipendrakumar Dhirendranath Shukla (PW-9) and Pradipkumar Ganesh Rawat (PW-14), the star prosecution witnesses of the last seen circumstance, were recorded by the 2nd Investigating Officer (PW-18) for the first time as late as 3rd October 2013, as is borne out from his deposition. Apparently, thus, till 3 rd October 2013, there was not a shred of evidence on the investigation file which could have incriminated the accused appellant for the crime. In spite thereof, the accused appellant was arrested in this case. 54. The investigation was handed over by Vikas Sarjerao Lokre (PW-16) to Inspector Mandar Vasant Dharmadhikari (PW-18), on 3rd October, 2013, who continued the investigation thereafter. At the cost of repetition, it may be noted that the 1st Investigating 45 Criminal Appeal No(s). 1954-1955 of 2022