SC sets aside order dropping KCOC charges in Gauri Lankesh murder

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the accused int he murder of activist and journalist Gauri Lankesh would have to stand trial under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA), setting aside the HC judgement which had quashed the charges.

The high court on April 22, 2021, quashed the order of the Bengaluru Commissioner of Police passed in 2018 and the supplementary charge sheet filed thereafter.

The accused Mohan Nayak allegedly shot dead Lankesh in her home in Bangalore on 2017. An appeal was filed against the decision of the HC by Kavita Lankesh, sister of Gauri. The plea had argued that Nayak was actively involved in providing shelter to Lankesh's killers prior to and after the commission of the offence. Nayak's lawyers on the other hand said that he was not directly involved in the killing and so could not come under the KCOC Act. Neither was there proof that he was involved in any organised crime rings the defense argued.

Kavita Lankesh's plea also claimed that Nayak was involved with a crime ring called Amol Kale that had been involved in other crimes such as the murders of Dr Narendra Dabolkar in 2013, Govinda Pansare in 2015, Dr M M Kalburgi in 2015 and conspiracy to murder Prof Bhagavan in 2018.