New Delhi, Jan 15 (FN Representative) The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea by slain journalist Gauri Lankesh’s younger sister Kavita Lankesh seeking cancellation of the bail granted to an accused allegedly involved in the murder conspiracy.The accused Mohan Nayak is alleged to have been a part of the conspiracy to murder Lankesh, who was shot dead in Bengaluru in 2017,A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice on the plea of Kavita Lankesh seeking cancellation of the bail granted by the Karnataka High Court to Mohan Nayak on December 7.Gauri Lankesh was a journalist and editor of Kannada tabloid Lankesh Patrike. She was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru in 2017, Pursuant to her assassination, an investigation was launched and a chargesheet filed, while further investigation continued. Nayak was named as accused number 11 in the case. According to the chargesheet, a house was rented out on the outskirts of Bengaluru in his name under the guise of running a traditional medicine center. The alleged shooters are said to have stayed in the house as visitors in August 2017, weeks before Lankesh’s murder on September 5, 2017. CBI had invoked the Karnataka Control of Organized Crime Act (COCA) on the accused and an additional chargesheet was filed in which Nayak was arraigned as accused No.11.
He was arrested in 2018 on the allegations that he had harbored accused Nos. 2 and 3, who shot Lankesh Though Nayak applied for bail multiple times before different courts, he was denied relief until December 7 last year, when he was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court noting that he had spent over 5 years in custody and the trial was not likely to be completed soon. The Karnataka High Court, while granting bail to Nayak, observed that the witnesses did not depose to his presence in the meetings where Lankesh’s murder was allegedly planned. The High Court found that the confessional statements of accused persons were recorded before receiving approval for invoking COCA. Besides, requirements under Section 19 of the Act were not complied with. The High Court while considering the bail said even if the charges against Nayak under COCA were proved, the offenses were not exclusively punishable with death or life imprisonment. The minimum punishment entailed imprisonment for 5 years and Nayak had already undergone incarceration for that period. The High Court observed that the delay in the trial was not attributable to Nayak. Aggrieved, petitioner Kavitha Lankesh approached the Supreme Court. CBI replied that there were allegations that the aforesaid murder was the handiwork of right-wing fundamentalists opposed to the ideas expressed by the slain author/activist.