Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni has been convicted in the 2016 murder of a BJP leader, a verdict that could significantly impact Karnataka's political landscape and trigger further legal battles.
A Special Court for MPs and MLAs on Wednesday convicted Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni and 16 others in the 2016 murder case of BJP leader Yogesh Goudar, holding them guilty of criminal conspiracy and related offences.
Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat found the accused guilty of "having entered into a criminal conspiracy to commit the murder of Yogesh Goudar," and convicted them under relevant provisions of the IPC, including Section 120(B) (criminal conspiracy).
The court said the accused were also convicted under various sections related to unlawful assembly, rioting, and murder, including Section 302 read with Section 120(B) of the IPC, while several were additionally held guilty of causing disappearance of evidence.
Two others, Vasudeva Rama Nilekani and Somashekar Basappa Nyamagouda, were acquitted by giving them the benefit of doubt.
The court directed that perjury proceedings be initiated against multiple witnesses, including police officials and independent witnesses, for alleged false testimony, and granted liberty to the prosecution to seek sanction to prosecute an approver-turned-witness who turned hostile.
The case pertains to the killing of Yogesh Goudar, a BJP leader and former Dharwad Zila Panchayat member, who was hacked to death at a gymnasium in Dharwad in June 2016.
The matter, initially probed by local police and later handed over to the CBI, involved examination of over 100 witnesses. Kulkarni, who was a minister at the time of the incident, was arrested in 2020 and later granted bail.
The court posted the matter for hearing on the quantum of sentence on Thursday.
The court asked the CBI to take the accused in its custody.
The MLA broke down as soon as the verdict was out.
Kulkarni was taken to the Bengaluru Central Jail at Parappana Agrahara in the city.
Following the conviction, Kulkarni may be disqualified as an MLA.