Read Time: 06 minutes

Synopsis

The Supreme Court has on August 21, 2024 dismissed a plea against the Karnataka High Court's order granting bail to Mohan Nayak N, an accused, in the case related to the killing of activist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma said it was not inclined to interfere with the high court's order as senior advocate Sidharth Luthra for the Karnataka government said about 100 witnesses were yet to be examined in the matter.

The court also noted that the accused, who has been in custody since July 18, 2018, has always cooperated with the trial court in proceeding with the matter.

"Under the circumstances, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned orders passed by the high court. However, it is directed that the trial court shall expeditiously conduct the trial and all the parties shall cooperate with the trial court in concluding the trial," the bench said.

The court also clarified, "It goes without saying that if the respondent–accused does not cooperate or asks for unnecessary adjournment(s) or commits breach of any condition, the State of Karnataka or the complainant shall be at liberty to apply for cancellation of bail, and if any such application is filed, the same shall be decided on its own merits and in accordance with law".

A special leave petition was filed by Kavitha Lankesh, younger sister of the slain journalist against the high court's order of December 7, 2023, which granted bail to Nayak.

Lankesh was shot dead on September 05, 2017, outside her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bengaluru. 

During the hearing, Luthra stated that so far 137 witnesses have been examined by the prosecution, 137 witnesses have been dropped and the prosecution is also likely to drop 150 more witnesses, and now about 100 witnesses are still to be examined.

On the other hand, the petitioner, who is also the complainant in the case, contended that the accused respondent had been charged under the provisions of KCOCA Section 22(4) which barred the court from releasing an accused on bail when there are no reasonable grounds to show the accused is not guilty. 

Her plea claimed that the investigation undertaken by the SIT revealed that Nayak was part of the syndicate led by Amol Kale which had committed multiple organised crimes apart from the murder of Gauri Lankesh, murders of Dr Narendra Dabolkar in Pune, Maharashtra in 2013, of Govinda Pansare at Kolhapur, Maharashtra in 2015, of Dr M M Kalburgi in 2015 in Dharwad and conspiracy to murder Prof Bhagavan of Mysore in 2018.

The high court granted bail to Nayak, noting that the accused had been in jail for over five years. The court emphasized that the power to grant bail should not be restricted, especially given the significant delay in the trial, which is unlikely to conclude in the near future.

Case Title: Kavitha Lankesh vs. State of Karnataka & Anr