Gauri Lankesh murder accused gets bail

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Mohan Nayak N, the 11th accused in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh had been granted bail by the High Court of Karnataka.

The single judge bench of Justice S Vishwajith Shetty granted the bail on December 7.

The allegation against Nayak was that "he had conspired with the other accused persons to commit the murder of deceased Gouri Lankesh and in furtherance of such conspiracy, he had taken a house for rent at Ramanagara in an isolatedplace and had given shelter in the said house to accused nos.2 & 3 who are the actual assailants in the present case."

He is the first accused in the case to obtain bail. One of the grounds on which Nayak was granted bail was the delay in the trial.

"In the present case, out of 527 charge sheetwitnesses, only 90 witnesses have been examined. This Court on 11.02.2019 directed the Trial Court to expedite the trial. Though charges were framed in the present case on 30.10.2021, for the last more than two years, only 90 witnesses have been examined. There are more than 400 charge sheet witnesses who are yet to be examined in the case. Even if it is assumed that all the witnesses who are cited in the charge sheet may not be examined in the case, considering the fact that only 90 witnesses have been examined for more than two years, it can be safely presumed that any time soon, the trial may not be completed," the HC said.