NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has recently rejected a plea filed by Kavitha Lankesh challenging the Karnataka High Court's order which had granted bail to an accused in the murder case of her elder sister and journalist Gauri Lankesh.
A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice S C Sharma, in their order, said that the court doesn't find any merit in the appeal filed by the petitioner.
While declining to entertain Kavitha's appeal, the Apex Court further noted that the accused, Mohan Nayak, has cooperated with the trial court in the proceedings and has not sought any adjournments in the case.
The accused, Nayak, was the first accused to get bail from the Karnataka High Court, on December 7, 2023. Challenging this order of the HC, Kavitha had moved the Supreme Court and filed an appeal seeking a direction from the Top Court for cancellation of the bail granted to the accused.
In January, this year, the Supreme Court's bench had issued notice to the accused, Nayak and others, and sought their detailed responses, after hearing an appeal filed by Kavita.
The deceased journalist, Gauri, 55, who was allegedly shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru on September 05, 2017, was the editor of Kannada tabloid, Lankesh Patrika.
The Karnataka HC in its order in December last year, granted the relief of bail to Nayak, citing the delay in the trial. It also pointed out that the charges under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA) invoked against him did not attract a life sentence or a death sentence, forcing it to grant bail to Nayak.
It is to be noted that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing the case. Nayak is the 11th accused in the case, and there are a total of 17 accused being arrested by the police in the case.