The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a plea for bail by Karnataka Congress leader and former minister Vinay Kulkarni in a case related to the 2016 murder of a BJP worker in Dharwad.
A bench of Justices U U Lalit and Ajay Rastogi provided relief to Kulkarni, who was arrested on November 5, 2020.
The court restrained Kulkarni from entering Dharwad. It also directed him not to impede in the process of investigation in the case.
The top court said Kulkarni would be produced before the trial court within three days which would pass the order, imposing necessary conditions for his bail.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Kulkarni, picked up holes in the CBI's charges. He claimed that there were discrepancies with what Dharwad police earlier claimed in its initial investigation report.
Yogeshgouda Goudar, 26, a member of district Panchayat, was hacked to death on June 15, 2016, at his gym in Saptapur in Dharwad on being immobilised with chilli powder, thrown on his face.
The victim's family members suspected the role of former Minister and Congress leader Kulkarni in the murder.
The previous B S Yeddyurappa government had on September 6, 2019, ordered the CBI probe, within a couple of months of assuming the charge.
The top court had earlier on February 21, 2020, stayed the Karnataka High Court's order of November 21, 2019, that suspended the probe by the central agency into the matter.
(Published 11 August 2021, 08:42 IST)
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