NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's two-judge bench, headed by Justice Vikram Nath and also comprising Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, in a recent order, issued notice to the accused and others, and sought their detailed responses, after hearing an appeal filed by Kavita Lankesh, the younger sister of the slain journalist, Gauri Lankesh, as the former had moved it seeking cancellation of the bail of one of the accused Mohan Nayak in the case.
The appeal was moved by Kavita seeking a direction from the Top Court for cancellation of the bail granted to Mohan Nayak, who is alleged to have been a part of the criminal conspiracy to murder Gauri.
The accused, Mohan Nayak, was the first one to get bail from the Karnataka HC, on December 7, 2023.
The deceased journalist, Lankesh, 55, who was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru in September 05, 2017, was the editor of Kannada tabloid Lankesh Patrika.
The Karnataka HC had in its order on 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.
"The accused (Mohan Nayak) is in custody more than give years," the HC said, and had granted him bail.
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.