Congress MLA Gets Life Imprisonment In BJP Leader's Murder Of 2016, MLA To Move High Court

BENGALURU: A couple of days after his conviction, Congress MLA and former minister

Vinay Kulkarni on Friday was sentenced to double life imprisonment for the

murder of Bharatiya Janata Party zilla panchayat member Yogeesh Gouda by a

special court to deal with crimes involving MLAs/MPs, Bengaluru. Gouda was

murdered at his gymnasium on June 15, 2016, when Kulkarni was Dharwad

district incharge minister.

Kulkarni was Accused 15 in the case and was sentenced for murder and

hatching conspiracy. He will serve his life sentence concurrently. The MLA

will move the High Court over the life sentence awarded to him in the murder

case.

The court on Wednesday had reserved its announcement on quantum of

punishment to the MLA representing Dharwad Assembly seat. Along with

Kulkarni, his associates were also sentenced to life imprisonment as well.

The then circle inspector got rigorous imprisonment (RI) for 17 years for

destroying evidence.

Hema, advocate representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), told

reporters that convicted persons would have to serve their rest of their

life till their natural death. She said investigation into the murder was

taken up by state police which was later transferred to the CBI. The police

chargesheet had mentioned only six accused.

The CBI chargesheet named 21 accused including Kulkarni. The court sentenced

the accused for murder, conspiracy and for destroying the evidence.

Advocate Shivanand Perla said witnesses, call data records and CCTV footage

proved valuable to convict the accused. CCTV footage gathered from a camera

installed near Dharwad post office showed persons fleeing with lethal

weapons but the police had not taken it into consideration. Perla said

witnesses in the case were threatened but they resisted the threats and

stood firm to their statements.