An accused person, Mohan Nayak, has been granted bail by the Karnataka High Court in relation to the 2017 murder of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh outside her Bengaluru home. Nayak is the first defendant in the case to be granted bail.
An accused person, Mohan Nayak, has been granted bail by the Karnataka High Court in relation to the 2017 murder of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh.
Nayak is the first defendant in the case to be granted bail.
A bench consisting of Justice S Vishwajith Shetty’s solitary judge rendered an order announcing the verdict.
Nayak has been ordered to appear before the trial court on all hearing dates and provide a personal bond of Rs. 1 lakh with two sureties for equivalent sums, unless the court excuses his absence for good cause.
The High Court noted that the accused, in custody since July 18, 2018, shall not directly or indirectly threaten or tamper with the prosecution witnesses.
The accused’s statement was recorded and he had been in police custody for five years. He had applied for bail on the grounds that the trial was getting delayed.
The High Court said that only 90 of the 527 chargesheet witnesses had been examined in the case.
“This Court on February 11, 2019, directed the trial court to expedite the trial. Though charges were framed in the present case on October 30, 2021, only 90 witnesses have been examined. There are more than 400 charge sheet witnesses who are yet to be examined in the case,” the order said.
“Even if it is assumed that all the witnesses mentioned in the chargesheet may not be examined in the case, considering the fact that only 90 witnesses have been examined for the last more than two years, it can be safely presumed that any time soon, the trial of the case may not be completed,” it added.
A case has been lodged against Nayak under Sections 302, 120B, 118, 203, 35 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Sections 25(1) and 27(1) of the Indian Arms Act, 1959, and Sections 3(1)(i), 3(2), 3(3) & 3(4) of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act, 2000 (COCA).
“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. The material on record would go to show that the trial may not be completed any time soon,” the High Court observed.
“From a perusal of the order sheet maintained by the trial court, it is seen that delay in trial cannot be attributed to the accused,” the order said.
Gauri Lankesh, a left-leaning journalist, was shot dead by three motorcycle-borne men outside her house in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar area in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017.
