 A division bench of Karnataka High Court acquitted all 46 accused in August 2014.The bench headed by Justice Mohan Shantanagoudar held that a conviction would be "pre-judicial" to the interest of the accused given that 14 years had passed since the incident and all the 22 eyewitnesses had since turned hostile.The court also observed that the investigating police officer and some of the eyewitnesses were not cross-examined properly.