Former Karnataka Minister Vinay Kulakarni Gets Life Imprisonment In 2016 Murder Case

Bengaluru, April 17: Former Karnataka Minister Vinay Kulakarni, who was convicted in the case related to murder of Yogesh Gowda due to political rivalry has been convicted for life imprisonment, along with 16 others.

Cop Who Hushed Up Case Gets 7 Years

The police officer Chennakeshava Tingrikar, who was police inspector at Dharwad Rural police station in 2016, when the murder took place and tried to hush up the case has been awarded seven years of imprisonment.

The Special Court for Elected Representatives Judge Gajanana Bhat, while announcing the quantum of punishment to the 17 accused in the case on Friday did not heed to the plea of defence counsel Shyam Sundar that the accused was a good person and him getting elected again by the people was a proof for that. The court noted that the entire episode had sniffed the life of a budding politician just for rivalry and the accused tried to hush up the case by making some innocent people surrender before the police to mislead the investigation.

CBI Charge Sheet Led to Convictions

Based on the charge sheet filed by the CBI with respect to murder of former BJP Zilla Panchayat member Yogesh Gowda, Vinay Kulakarni and 18 others have been found guilty of murder and conspiracy, while two others have been exonerated of the charges. However, since two of the accused, including Basavaraj Mutthigi turned approvers to CBI during the investigation, they were released without punishment.

The murder had taken place on June 15, 2016, when Yogesh Gowda had gone to gym early in the morning. After the murder, the Dharwad police had implicated a few people and charged that the murder was in connection with some real estate dispute between some rowdies and Yogesh Gowda.

Family's Plea Led to CBI Probe

However, Yogesh Gowda's family members approached the court, alleging that the then Congress MLA Vinay Kulakarni was behind the murder and the police were shielding them. The case was handed over to the CBI.

During the investigation, the CBI established that Vinay Kulakarni had paid ₹ 20 lakh supari for Yogesh Gowda's murder. The CBI also charged that the police officials were part of the conspiracy before the murder took place.

Meanwhile, Vinay Kulakarni, who was on bail won Dharwad South Assembly constituency again in 2023 and became a Minister. However, after the CBI filed the charge sheet, he was arrested again, forcing him to resign from the ministry. He obtained bail only two months ago from the Supreme Court. But, the court convicted him for both murder and conspiracy, leading to his arrest again.