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Bengaluru, Jul 25 (UNI) The Karnataka High Court has denied bail to accused in the journalist Gauri Lankesh murder case.
Mohan Nayak, the accused, had sought bail claiming that his detention is illegal on the grounds that the Special Investigation Team investigating the case had allegedly delayed filing of the chargesheet.
Handing out the judgement, Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar on Saturday denied bail observing that mere delay on the part of the Magistrate to take cognizance of the chargesheet filed will not amount to illegal detention.
"The accused in the murder case cannot seek bail on the grounds that the SIT filed a chargesheet against him more than 90 days after his arrest," the judge said.
Nayak also had sought bail on the account of Karnataka High Court dropping Karnataka Control of Organized Control Act (KCOCA) charges against him observing that the accused was not involved in continuing unlawful activities as defined under the Act.
Following this order, as many as five other accused in the case had moved the court seeking withdrawal of the KCOCA charges against them.
Nayak and others were linked to Hindutva outfit Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.
They are also been charged in rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, Leftist thinker Govind Pansare, and Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi's killings. They are also charged for attempting to kill writer K S Bhagawan.
An outspoken critic of Hindutva, Lankesh was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru on the night of September 5, 2017 by two motorcycle-borne assassins.
Since then, the SIT has arrested and charged 17 people linked to Hindutva groups, who allegedly created a syndicate to carry out killings and attacks on critics between 2013 to 2018, especially in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
UNI BDN SHK2152