Bengaluru, Jan 26: The principal city civil and sessions court on Friday reserved orders on bail petitions filed by 16 of the 18 accused arrested in connection with the Gauri Lankesh murder case, to February 7.
The accused include Amol Kale, Parashuram Waghmore, Amit Baddi, Ganesh Miskin, Manohar Edave, Sujit Kumar, Rajesh Bangera, Suresh Kumar, Sudhanva Gondelkar, Suryavamshi, Amit Degwekar and others. One accused, Naveen Kumar, has sought bail in another case, while another, acupuncture healer Mohan Naik, has moved the high court for bail.
U mash ankar Megundi, one of the advocates appearing for the accused, had earlier contended that the Special Investigation Team probing the murder had overlooked a few essential conditions while booking the accused under Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA) and fabricated evidence.
“The chargesheet against the accused was filed beyond the stipulated period of 180 days. SIT claims that it was filed within 180 days, which is false. Any chargesheet filed in court should be entered in the register, but the SITdidn’t do so. This is a major lapse. Also, SIT erred by invoking KCOCA against most of the accused. Suspects booked under it should have criminal antecedents and booked in at least three criminal cases. Most suspects in this case have no criminal background,” Umashankar had argued.
Special public prosecutor S Balan had argued that the chargesheet was filed on Novem ber 23, 2018, the 175th day. “Soon, the case was adjourned to future dates. Section 3 of KCOCA explains that any crime syndicate involving two or more criminal cases can be booked under the Act. Waghmore, Kale and Miskin have at least two chargesheets against their names. Naturally, other suspects formed a syndicate and they can b e booked under KCOCA,” he said.
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