Three Accused In Gauri Lankesh Murder Case Granted Bail By Karnataka HC

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday granted bail to three persons accused in the 2017 murder of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead outside her home in West Bengaluru.

Justice S Vishwajith Shetty of the Kalaburagi bench granted bail to Amit Digvekar, KT Naveen Kumar, and HL Suresh. Justice Shetty had reserved orders on the three bail applications on July 2.

The three accused applied for bail citing the case of co-accused Mohan Nayak, who was granted bail by the High Court in December 2023 due to delays in the trial. Nayak had argued that only 90 out of the 527 chargesheet witnesses had been examined at the time.

The State opposed the bail pleas, referring to an order by the Dharwad bench of the High Court that had rejected bail applications of those accused in the killing of scholar and activist MM Kalaburagi.

Lankesh was murdered by two motorcycle-borne assassins on the night of September 5, 2017.