Hubballi: The Hubballi-Dharwad bench of the Karnataka High Court on Friday stayed the life imprisonment sentence of Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni in the murder case of BJP leader Yogesh Goudar and granted him bail.

A division bench comprising Justice Mohammed Nawaz and Justice G. Basavaraju passed the order while hearing Kulkarni’s appeal against his conviction.

The court directed Kulkarni to execute a personal bond of ₹5 lakh and furnish two sureties of the same amount. It also asked him to cooperate with the proceedings and barred him from travelling abroad without prior permission of the court, according to PTI.

Kulkarni and 15 others were convicted by a Special Court for MPs and MLAs in Bengaluru on April 15 this year in connection with Goudar’s murder. The court sentenced them to life imprisonment on April 17.

Following his conviction, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly issued a notification in May 2026 disqualifying Kulkarni, the then MLA from Dharwad, under Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The notification stated that the disqualification would continue for six years after his release unless the conviction was stayed by a competent court.

The case pertains to the murder of BJP leader Yogesh Goudar, a former Dharwad Zilla Panchayat member, who was hacked to death by assailants at a gymnasium in Dharwad’s Saptapur area on June 15, 2016. Kulkarni was serving as a minister in the Siddaramaiah government at the time.

The investigation was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2019. In a supplementary chargesheet filed the following year, the CBI named Kulkarni as the alleged main conspirator, claiming he viewed Goudar as a rising political rival in Dharwad and had hired contract killers to eliminate him.

Kulkarni was arrested by the CBI in 2020 and was granted bail by the Supreme Court in August 2021, subject to conditions, including a restriction on entering Dharwad district.

However, in June 2025, the Supreme Court cancelled his bail after allegations that he had attempted to influence prosecution witnesses. His subsequent bail plea before the Karnataka High Court was rejected in January 2026.

The Supreme Court granted him bail again on February 27, 2026, observing that the examination of all prosecution witnesses had been completed.

Friday’s order of the Karnataka High Court staying his life sentence now provides fresh relief to the Congress MLA while his appeal against the conviction remains pending.