SC issues notice to Karnataka, others in murder case of journalist Gauri Lankesh

New Delhi [India], June 29 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to Karnataka government and others, on hearing a Special leave petition (SLP) filed by filmmaker Kavitha Lankesh challenging a judgment of the Karnataka High Court which quashed charges under Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) against one of the accused, Mohan Nayak, in the Gauri Lankesh murder case.
A three-judge bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, and also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose, issued notice to the Karnataka government on hearing the SLP filed by Kavitha Lankesh, the sister of journalist Gauri Lankesh who was shot dead in Bengaluru in 2017.
Senior lawyer, Hufeza Ahmadi, appearing for Kavita Lankesh, today submitted to the Supreme Court that Mohan Nayak, accused number six in the case, was relying on the impugned judgment of the Karnataka High Court to seek bail.
The Apex Court observed that the bail application of the accused should be decided uninfluenced by the impugned judgment.
Kavitha Lankesh, had moved the Supreme Court, also against the suggestion to club the investigation into Gauri Lankesh's murder with those of writer MM Kalburgi, and rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, and hand it over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
According to the prosecution, Gauri Lankesh was allegedly shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017.
Kavitha in her SLP submitted that the Karnataka High Court has erred in its order by "not examining the scheme of Section 24 KCOCA which states that prior approval ought not to be granted by any officer below the rank of Additional Director General of Police which has been duly complied with in the present case".