BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka has granted bail to Mohan Nayak N, an accused in journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder case. This is the first bail granted in the case. In his order on Nayak’s petition, Justice S Vishwajith Shetty imposed certain conditions and directed him to execute a personal bond for Rs 1 lakh with two sureties for the like sum. The judge also directed Nayak to appear on all dates of hearing before the trial court.
Nayak, a resident of Sullia in Dakshina Kannada district, has been in custody since July 18, 2018. He is facing charges of conspiring with other accused to murder Gauri. But it was contended that the material placed before the court shows that he is not arraigned as co-accused in any of the cases registered against other accused for organized crimes.
The statements of 23 witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC indicate that none of these witnesses stated that the petitioner (Nayak) was part of a meeting held by the accused persons to conspire to murder Gauri. Most of the witnesses stated that the petitioner rented a house at Kumbalgodu and sheltered two of the accused, the court said.
Pointing out that the Supreme Court has observed that the material collected by the investigating agency was not sufficient to invoke Section 3(1) of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act, 2000 (KCOCA) against Nayak, the court said the confessions have not been recorded by an officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police as provided under Section 19 of the KCOCA.
Though charges were framed on October 30, 2021, only 90 witnesses have been examined so far. There are more than 400 witnesses, who are yet to be examined. Even if it is assumed that all the witnesses may not be examined, considering the fact that only 90 have been examined, it can be presumed that the trial may not be completed any time soon, the court said.