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All accused in 2017 Lankesh murder case now out of jail
Lankesh was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assassins outside her home in Bengaluru on the night of September 5, 2017. Of the total 18 accused arrested since, Vikas Patil is still absconding.
Bengaluru A court in Bengaluru has granted bail to Sharad Bhausaheb Kalaskar, the last accused in jail in connection with the murder of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh. With this, 17 of the 18 accused in the case are out on bail now, and while remains absconding.
Lankesh was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assassins outside her home in Bengaluru on the night of September 5, 2017. Of the total 18 accused arrested since, Vikas Patil is still absconding.
Hearing Kalaskar’s bail plea on January 8, justice Muralidhara Pai B of the Principal City Civil and Sessions Court in Bengaluru allowed his release saying that the prolonged detention violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution.
“As already pointed out, as on this day all the accused facing trial in the case except the Petitioner are on bail. As such the Petitioner is entitled for bail even on the ground of parity. Further, admittedly the Petitioner is in custody in the case since 4.9.2018. In several decisions Hon’ble Apex Court has repeatedly held that speedy trial is a fundamental right implicit in the broad sweep and content of Article 21 of Constitution and that if the period of deprivation of personal liberty pending trial becomes unduly long, the fairness assured by Article 21 of the Constitution would receive a jolt,” news portal Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.
The prosecution, however, opposed the plea and argued that Kalaskar was earlier convicted in the murder of rationalist thinker Narendra Dabholkar and his release poses a “risk of reoffending”.
The court dismissed this contention, and said: “This court has already examined 164 witnesses, and almost an equal number have been presented by the prosecution.”
Most remaining witnesses, it added, are officials or police personnel involved in the investigation, reducing the likelihood of interference.
Kalaskar’s release follows a series of similar bail grants in the case. In 2023, the Karnataka high court granted bail to several other accused in the case, starting with N Mohan Nayak alias Sampanje on December 7, 2023, which the Supreme Court confirmed in August 2024.
Subsequent orders have since facilitated the release of Bharat Kurane, Srikanth Pangarkar, Amit Dighvekar, KT Naveen Kumar and Suresh HL. In October last year, the Bengaluru sessions court had granted bail to eight of the accused — Amol Kale, Rajesh Bangera, Vasudev Suryawanshi, Rushikesh Devadekar, Parshuram Waghmore, Ganesh Miskin, Amith Ramachandra Baddi, and Manohar Dundeepa Yadave. They later returned to their hometown of Vijayapura to a grand welcome. Suresh and Suith Kumar, the other two accused are also out on bail.
Meanwhile, HT tried contacting Lankesh’s sister Kavita but did not get any response.
The accused are being prosecuted in the case for charges under sections 302, 120B, 118, 203, 35 Indian Penal Code, sections 25(1) & 27(1) of the Indian Arms Act, 1959, and Sections 3(1)(i), 3(2), 3(3) & 3(4) of the Karnataka Control of Organized Crimes Act, 2000.
Lankesh’s murder shocked India and drew international attention to far-right Hindu groups accused of targeting rationalist thinkers, including MM Kalburgi and Dabholkar, both of whom were murdered. the risks faced by journalists in the country.
Forensic evidence connected Lankesh’s murder to that of professor Kalburgi, killed on August 30 2015, with bullets fired from the same gun.The murder of Dabholkar, a well-known anti-superstition crusader, was the first in a chain of similar killings of three other rationalists and activists: Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur in February 2015, Kannada-language scholar MM Kalburgi in Dharwad in August 2015, and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru in September 2017. Among the suspects are current and past members of the Hindu Janagajruti Samiti (HJS) and its sister organisation, the Goa-based Sanatan Sanstha, which has been alleged to have had a role in these conspiracies – a claim they have denied.
