Gauri Lankesh murder: SC nixes petition to axe bail to accused
The apex court said Nayak had cooperated with the trial and had not sought any adjournment, and so declined to interfere with the High Court bail order
The Supreme Court has dismissed a special leave petition seeking cancellation of bail of an accused in the murder case of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh.
Mohan Nayak N was arrested on July 18, 2018 in connection with the September 5, 2017 murder of Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru.
The police have taken 18 persons into custody in the case.
Why Naik got bail
The petition was filed by Gauri’s sister Kavitha Lankesh challenging the bail order of the Karnataka High Court of December 7, 2023.
The High Court said Nayak had been in jail for the last five years and that of the 527 witnesses, only 90 had been examined so far. Appearing for Karnataka, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra told justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma in the top court that 137 witnesses had been examined by the prosecution so far.
SC upholds bail order
Another 137 witnesses have been dropped and the prosecution was also likely to drop 150 more witnesses. Thus, only 100 witnesses were left to be examined. The apex court said on Wednesday that Nayak had cooperated with the trial and had not sought any adjournment. Accordingly, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with the bail order of the High Court. It also urged the trial court to expeditiously conduct the trial.