SC bins plea for CBI probe against ex-minister

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea for a CBI probe into alleged involvement of then Karnataka Minister Vinay Kulkarni into murder of a BJP worker, Yogeshgouda Goudar, on June 15, 2016 after he defeated rival Congress party candidate in Zilla Panchyat election in Dharwad.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose did not find any substance into the allegations to order such a probe.

Senior advocate Meenakshi Lekhi, along with advocate Ankolekar Gurudatta, appearing for Tungamma, the mother of deceased, contended the police shielded the real culprits including the minister.

The counsel pointed that the police did not investigate into receipt of an anonymous letter, a day before the murder, as well as the CCTV footage immediately after the incident from the building where Goudar was hacked to death.

The petitioners, including Gurunathagouda, the brother of the deceased, claimed the police did not investigate into the suspicious movement of a black Hyundai Accent Car which came from KCD circle towards Saptapur Circle and again returned to the said circle as the accused persons were seen making the sign at the time of the incident.

They also pointed out the Home minister making a statement within one hour of the murder that it was due to land dispute raised sufficient doubt on authenticity and credibility of the probe.

The petitioners challenged the validity of the high court’s judgement of March 1, 2019, dismissing their writ petition for the CBI probe. After hearing the counsel, the top court also declined to interfere with the high court judgement and dismissed their plea.

“Having heard counsel for the petitioners and on perusing the relevant material, we are not inclined to interfere. The special leave petitions are accordingly dismissed,” the bench said in its order.