Govt files plea in SC against bail granted to Gauri murder accused

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: The Karnataka Government has filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court for the cancellation of bail granted to an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

The state plea was registered by the SC last Saturday. The plea is against a December 7, 2023, decision of the Karnataka High Court to grant bail to Mohan Nayak.

Nayak, 56, is an alleged member of a right-wing organised crime syndicate that carried out the shooting of Gauri Lankesh, 55, on the doorstep of her home in West Bengaluru on September 5, 2017, as she returned home from work.

Mohan Nayak, who is associated with Sanatan Sanstha, is among 17 people arrested for the murder by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police and he is alleged to have provided logistics, including the renting of a house, to shelter the shooters who carried out the murder.

Nayak was arrested in July 2018 and is currently facing trial in the case which began in July 2022. Nayak is the first and only accused in the Lankesh murder to be granted bail.

Since the December bail order, other accused have also sought bail on similar grounds.

On December 15, 2023, Kavitha Lankesh, the younger sister of the journalist, had also approached the Supreme Court with a plea opposing the bail order of the high court.

Her plea has been admitted by the Supreme Court and is pending hearing.