Sister of journalist Gauri Lankesh moves Supreme Court after charges under Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act dropped against an accused

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to Karnataka government on an appeal filed by filmmaker Kavitha Lankesh challenging the Karnataka High Court order quashing charges under Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) against one of the accused in the assassination case of her sister and journalist, Gauri Lankesh. .The plea stated that in the past few months, respondent no 6 Mohan Nayak, had moved the Karnataka High Court for bail after charges against him under KCOCA was quashed by the High Court. The bail hearing is completed and is pending in the High Court, the plea said. .A Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose issued notice in the matter to Karnataka government and posted the case for further hearing on July 15.Senior counsel Huzefa Ahmadi assisted by advocate Aparna Bhat represented the petitioner. .The Bench while issuing notice in the matter observed that the accused cannot be granted bail till the plea is heard and disposed of by the Supreme Court. .The order in challenge before the top court was delivered on April 22, 2021 by which the Karnataka High Court had quashed the order of Bengaluru Commisioner of Police passed in 2018 and the supplementary chargesheet filed thereafter. .Offences under Sections 3(1)(i), 3(2), 3(3) and 3(4) of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000 (“KCOCA”) against Mohan Nayak were, thereby, dropped. .The appeal before the Supreme Court alleged that Nayak was actively involved in providing shelter to the killers prior to and after committing the offence.."Probe proved that Nayak has been actively involved in providing shelter to the killers prior to and after committing the offence and has participated in a series of conspiracies, abetting, planning, providing logistics. Therefore, he is involved in “continuous unlawful activity. With regard to Respondent No. 6’s involvement in the murder of Gauri Lankesh, the investigating agency has collected sufficient material to connect him with the case and establish his intimate nexus with the master mind behind the entire event i.e. Accused No.1 Amol Kale and master arms trainer Accused No. 8 Rajesh D. Bangera who are part and parcel of an “organized crime syndicate” from its inception," the plea said. .It further stated that the High Court erred in not examining the scheme of Section 24 of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000 which states that prior approval ought not to be granted by any officer below the rank of Additional Director General of Police which has been duly complied with in the present case..The plea further alleged that investigation undertaken by SIT revealed that Nayak is part of the syndicate led by Amol Kale which had committed multiple organized crimes apart from the murder of Gauri Lankesh including:a. Murder of Dr. Narendra Dabolkar was in Pune, Maharashtra in2013.b. Murder of Govinda Pansare at Kolhapur, Maharashtra in 2015.c. Murder of Dr. M.M. Kalburgi by shooting him dead on 30.08.2015.d. Conspiracy to murder Prof. Bhagavan of Mysore in 2018