BENGALURU: The Special Court that sentenced Congress MLA and former minister Vinay Kulkarni, and 15 others to life imprisonment in the Yogesh Goudar murder case said that some police officials have deposed before the court that they had tendered false evidence under oath.
The case was taken over by the CBI after allegations that the state police were not probing the 2016 murder case impartially.
In the recently delivered order, Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, the special court for the trial of criminal cases against sitting and former MPs/MLAs, made scathing remarks: “The police department in Karnataka is known for their dedication towards their duty.
But, strangely, some of its officers have admitted to tendering false evidence before the court, which cannot be tolerated. Some punitive action is required to be initiated to prevent people from committing such blunders of deposing falsely before the court, which would erode the faith of the general public in the administration of justice.”
The court noted that it is relevant to note that prosecution witnesses (PWs) Dr Dattatreya Gudaganti, Anand Erappa Uddannanavar, Vinayaka Binjiyavar, Mohan Yecharappa Mulmuttal, Vivekananda Dalawai had tendered their statements under Section 164 of CrPC, before the magistrate under oath, and they had narrated about the incident of murder. They turned hostile, and deposed before the court that they were pressurised by the CBI to tender the evidence in their manner to suit their needs.
The similarity can be seen in the evidence of another PW, Shivananda Chalavadi, who was holding an important post under the Police Department and also a Police Inspector at Dharwad Town Police Station. In his evidence, he has deposed that he was afraid of CBI, and hence he had deposed falsely under oath before the Magistrate.
The very same manner is noticed in the evidence of PWs Babu Katagi, Shankaragouda Patil, Nataraj Sarj Desai and Vijay Kulkarni. This evidence indicates tendering false evidence before the court, the special court noted.
“Either false evidence must have been tendered before this court or before the Magistrate. Their act is nothing but making an attempt to sully the image and faith which the public has reposed in the judicial system,” the court observed.
The court noted that despite a lapse of considerable time, none of the police officers had thought it fit to complain to their higher authorities or at least even to the court about the alleged threat given by CBI, the court noted.