On August 20, the Supreme Court declined to cancel the bail granted to Mohan Nayak, an accused in the murder of activist Gauri Lankesh. The case was titled Kavitha Lankesh vs State of Karnataka and Another.
A Bench comprising Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma upheld the Karnataka High Court’s order, noting that Nayak had cooperated with the trial court proceedings. The High Court had previously granted Nayak bail in December 2023, acknowledging that the trial could be prolonged.
The Supreme Court observed, “It is not disputed that Respondent No.2 – Mohan Nayak has cooperated with the trial court and has not sought any adjournments. He has been in custody since July 18, 2018. Under these circumstances, we are not inclined to interfere with the High Court’s order. The Special Leave Petitions are dismissed accordingly.”
The Bench was hearing petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court’s decision to grant bail to Nayak, one of the accused in Gauri Lankesh’s murder case. The Supreme Court had earlier sought responses from the Karnataka government and Nayak following a plea filed by Kavitha Lankesh, Gauri Lankesh’s sister.
During the hearing, the counsel for the Karnataka government pointed out that around 100 witnesses were yet to be examined. Despite this, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals but noted that the parties could approach the trial court for bail cancellation if Nayak violated bail conditions or caused delays in the trial.
Gauri Lankesh, a journalist and activist, was shot dead in 2017. Mohan Nayak, who was granted bail on December 7, 2023, by the Karnataka High Court, was the first accused in the case to receive bail. High Court judge Justice S. Vaishwajith Shetty granted bail, highlighting that none of the 23 witnesses testified that Nayak was involved in the conspiracy to murder Lankesh. Most witnesses only mentioned Nayak renting a house in Kumbalagodu, on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Before this, Nayak’s bail requests had been denied twice by the High Court. In July 2023, the High Court granted bail to three other accused, Amit Digvekar, KT Naveen Kumar, and HL Suresh.
Senior Advocates Huzefa Ahmadi and Aparna Bhat, along with advocates Rohan Sharma, Karishma Maria, Pooja B. Mehta, Yash S. Vijay, and Rashmi Singh, represented Kavitha Lankesh in the Supreme Court. Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, Additional Advocate General Avishkar Singhvi, and Advocate V.N. Raghupathy appeared for the Karnataka government. Advocates Gautam S. Bharadwaj, Ashwin Kumar D.S., Surbhi Mehta, and Ishan Roy Chowdhury represented Mohan Nayak.
