Karnataka orders setting up of special courts for Lankesh, Kalburgi trials
The CM issued two directives to the state’s home secretary following requests from the families of Kalburgi and Lankesh seeking expedited legal proceedings
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said the state government has ordered setting up of special courts to hear the case pertaining to the murder of renowned Kannada writer MM Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh.
The chief minister issued two directives to the state’s home secretary following requests from the families of Kalburgi and Lankesh seeking expedited legal proceedings.
Kalburgi (77), a renowned Kannada writer and researcher, was murdered on August 30, 2015 at his residence in Dharwad in northern Karnataka. A charge sheet in the case was registered by the police in 2019.
“Though evidence proceedings of the family have been completed, hearing in the court has continued. The wife of the late writer, Umadevi, has requested the setting up of a special court as enough time has passed by,” the chief minister said in a statement released to the media on Wednesday. “Directions have been issued to take urgent steps in this regard.”
With regards to the murder case of Gauri Lankesh (55), who was shot dead outside her home at Rajarajeshwarinagar in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017, Siddaramaiah said that the special investigation team (SIT) probing into the case has so far arrested 18 people and filed a charge sheet with 1,200 pieces of evidence and 500 witnesses.
“While the court had started the hearing in the case in July 2022, the case is progressing at a slow pace due to other cases pending before the court,” the statement citing a separate directive to the home secretary said. “The deceased’s sister Kavitha Lankesh has requested setting up of a special court and a full-time judge to hear the case. It has been directed to take urgent steps in this regard.”
Despite the charge sheet in the case being filed under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) in 2018, the trial remains in its initial stages. Only 83 of 500 witnesses in the case have deposed before the court so far. The trial began as late as March 2022, and since then, three judges have changed.
According to investigators, Lankesh and Kalburgi were killed by the same right-wing extremist group. During the probe, the SIT and also unearthed a link with two more cases pertaining to the murder of rationalists Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra SIT, which is probing the 2015 murder of Pansare (82), who was shot five times while returning from a morning walk in Kolhapur, also found that the same gun was used in the Lankesh and Pansare murders.
The link between the murders of Lankesh and Dabholkar (67), who was shot dead while he was out on a morning walk in Pune August 20, 2013, emerged during the later stages of the investigation.
