BENGALURU: In a setback to former minister and MLA Vinay R Kulkarni, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by him, questioning the order passed by the special court to frame charges against him in the murder case of Yogesh Goudar, a member of the Dharwad Zilla Panchayat, in 2016, for being devoid of merits.
The court, however, requested the special court to accomplish the trial and dispose of the case of the petitioner within three months, saying a case of this kind should be disposed of “before memory fades”, at least as a concession to the shortness of human life.
Justice Krishna S Dixit passed the order while rejecting the petition filed by Kulkarni, contending that no charges could have been filed against him since there was absolutely no material to connect him to the crime.
Kulkarni is accused number 15 among 25 accused persons, against whom chargesheets have been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. On December 6, 2023, the special court passed the order to frame charges against all the accused, including Kulkarni.
Apart from defending the involvement of Kulkarni in the crime, the CBI stated that Kulkarni has been making all-out efforts to stifle the prosecution by launching case after case, even up to the level of the apex court, undeterred by the failure of challenges.
The court said it was not impressed by the submission of the CBI that the petitioner had abused the legal process by instituting case after case. A citizen is entitled to have recourse to judicial process any number of times if grounds do exist, the court added, while dismissing the petition.