SUPREME COURT DENIES CONGRESS MLA VINAY KULKARNI’S PLEA FOR MORE TIME TO SURRENDER IN BJP WORKER’S MURDER CASE:

On June 13, the Supreme Court rejected a plea by Karnataka Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni seeking additional time to surrender in connection with the murder of BJP leader Yogesh Gowda. The Court had earlier canceled Kulkarni’s bail due to alleged violations of bail conditions, including attempts to influence witnesses. The Court directed him to surrender within one week of its June 6 order.

Kulkarni’s counsel appeared before a bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan, requesting an extension of the surrender deadline. The counsel argued that since Kulkarni is a sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly and currently holds the position of Chairman of the Karnataka Water Supply Board, he needed to attend an important official meeting scheduled for the week. However, the bench was not convinced and refused to grant any relief, reinforcing the earlier directive.

The earlier order, passed on June 6 by a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma, had canceled the bail granted to Kulkarni. The Court found that Kulkarni had breached bail conditions set by the trial court. It observed that there was adequate material on record indicating that Kulkarni had made efforts to contact or influence witnesses involved in the case. Consequently, the Court ordered that he must surrender either before the trial court or directly to the jail authorities within a week of the ruling. Additionally, it directed the trial court to conduct the trial independently, without being influenced by any observations made by the Supreme Court.

The case dates back to June 15, 2016, when Yogesh Gowda, a zilla panchayat member of the BJP representing the Hebballi constituency, was murdered by a group of armed men while working out at a gym in Saptapur, Dharwad. Initially, the Dharwad Police arrested six individuals in connection with the murder and filed a chargesheet against them. However, Gowda’s family and BJP leaders consistently demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe, citing political motivations behind the crime.

Following the BJP’s rise to power in Karnataka, the CBI took over the investigation on September 24, 2019. The agency subsequently arrested eight more individuals and filed a chargesheet on May 20, 2020. Vinay Kulkarni was arrested on November 5, 2020, and remained in judicial custody at Hindalga Jail in Belagavi after his bail applications were rejected by both the trial court and the High Court.

The CBI also filed a supplementary charge sheet in February 2021 before the CBI Special Court, further strengthening its case against Kulkarni and the other accused. Despite his official status and ongoing responsibilities in government, the Court has now made it clear that Kulkarni must comply with its directive and surrender without delay, reinforcing the principle that judicial accountability applies equally to all individuals, regardless of their political or administrative positions.