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This is an archive article published on July 17, 2024
Gauri Lankesh murder: Karnataka High Court grants bail to 3 accused
In connection with the murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, police have arrested and charged 17 people linked to attacks on critics of the right-wing in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Late journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh. (wikimediacommons)
The Karnataka High Court has granted bail to three of the 17 people accused in the murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, 55, who was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne gunmen on September 5, 2017.
Justice Viswajith Shetty of the high court’s Kalaburagi bench granted the relief on Tuesday after reserving orders on July 2.
The accused—Amit Digvekar, K T Naveen Kumar and H L Suresh—relied on the fact that their co- accused Mohan Nayak, an alleged associate of the right-wing Sanatan Sanstha, was granted bail in December 2023. They also argued that there had been an excessive delay during the trial.
Nayak is accused of renting a house and providing SIM cards for the killers of Lankesh, a long-time and outspoken critic of Hindutva, ahead of her murder outside her Rajarajeshwari Nagar home in Bengaluru.
A special investigation team has arrested and charged 17 people linked to attacks on critics of the right-wing in Karnataka and Maharashtra between 2013 and 2018.
While granting bail to Nayak, who was incarcerated for five years, the bench of Justice Viswajith Shetty last year noted that he was not facing a life or death sentence under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA). The court also commented on the factor of delay.
“Though Section 22(4) of COCA provides for certain rigours for enlarging the accused on bail as against whom charges are made for the offences punishable under the COCA, the same cannot fetter the powers of this Court to enlarge the accused on bail when there is undue delay in trial and the material on record would go to show that the trial may not be completed any time soon,” the court had said.
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The full text of the bail order for the three accused is yet to be released by the court.
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