Karnataka High Court grants bail to Gauri Lankesh murder accused Mohan Nayak; first bail in the case

The Karnataka High Court recently granted bail to one Mohan Nayak, accused in the case of murder of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh who was shot dead in 2017 [Mohan Nayak N v State of Karnataka].Nayak is the first person to get bail in relation to the case. Justice S Viashwajith Shetty in his order noted that none of the 23 witnesses who spoke about the role of Nayak, said he was part of the meeting where the accused persons allegedly conspired to murder Lankesh.Most of those witnesses have only spoken about Nayak taking a house on rent at Kumbalagodu in the outskirts of Bengaluru, it added. According to prosecution, he had taken the house on rent to give shelter to actual assailants in the case.The accused sought bail on the ground of delay in conclusion of trial and highlighted that there are a total of 527 chargesheet witnesses in the case but only 90 have been examined till date.The Court poked holes in the confession statements recorded in the case and noted that the same was done prior to sanction being granted for invoking the provisions of Karnataka Control of Organized Crimes Act (COCA).Thus, it opined that Section 19 of the COCA may not be applicable to the confessions. The provision states that a confession made by a person before a police officer not below the rank of the Superintendent of Police and recorded by such police officer either in writing or on any mechanical devices like cassettes or tapes, shall be admissible in the trial.“Even otherwise, the requirements of Section 19 has not be complied in the present case. The confessions have not been recorded by an officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police in the manner as provided under Section 19 of the COCA,” the Court added..The Court further said even if charges under COCA are proved against the accused, the offences are not punishable exclusively with death or life imprisonment and the minimum punishment for the offences is imprisonment by five years.The record revealed that Nayak has been in custody for more than five years. In this backdrop, the Court opined that even though the COCA has certain conditions for releasing the accused on bail, the same cannot fetter its judicial power to grant the relief when there is undue delay..The Court concluded that the trial may not be completed any time soon and the delay was not attributable to the accused.“Under the circumstances, I am of the view that the prayer made by the petitioner in this petition needs to be answered affirmatively,” the bench said while granting Nayak bail.The High Court had earlier twice denied regular bail to the accused. Advocate Amar Correa represented the accused.Special Public Prosecutor Ashok A Naik represented the prosecution.[Read Order]