Gauri Lankesh murder: Supreme Court restores KCOCA charges against accused

A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar allowed the pleas filed by the state and Gauri Lankesh’s sister Kavitha Lankesh.  

Restoring the charges under Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) against accused Mohan Nayak in the Gauri Lankesh murder case, the Supreme Court allowed an appeal against a judgment of the Karnataka High Court which had quashed the charges.

Gauri Lankesh's sister Kavita Lankesh had approached the Supreme Court after the High Court in April had dropped charges against accused Mohan Nayak under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA).

A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar allowed the pleas filed by the state and Gauri Lankesh’s sister Kavitha Lankesh.

With today's order, a possibility of the accused getting bail would become difficult during the pendency of the trial.

Gauri Lankesh was shot dead on the night of September 5, 2017, from close range near her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru.

While hearing arguments in the matter on September 21, the 3-member SC bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar had “tentatively” indicated that it is inclined to set aside a part of the high court order quashing the charge sheet.

The high court had struck down the August 14, 2018 order of the police authority granting approval to invoke KCOCA for investigation against Nayak. On September 21, the Supreme Court had reserved its decision on the petition challenging the order of the High Court.

In its order, the high court had said, “If the approval order itself is bad in law, the sanction order, the charge sheet and the approval order so far as the offences under the Act (KCOCA) against the petitioner (Nayak) have no legs to stand.”