Bengaluru, Apr 16 A special court for MPs and MLAs on Thursday reserved its order on the quantum of sentence for convicted Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni and 16 others in the 2016 murder case of BJP leader Yogesh Goudar.
The order will be pronounced on April 17.
The court had held the accused guilty of criminal conspiracy and related offences on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the court heard arguments from the prosecution and defence on the quantum of punishment.
Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat found the accused guilty of entering into a criminal conspiracy to murder Yogesh Goudar and convicted them under relevant provisions of the IPC, including Section 120(B) (criminal conspiracy).
The court said the accused were also convicted under various sections related to unlawful assembly, rioting and murder, including Section 302 read with Section 120(B) of the IPC. Several of them were additionally held guilty of causing the disappearance of evidence.
Two others—Vasudeva Rama Nilekani and Somashekar Basappa Nyamagouda—were acquitted after being given the benefit of doubt.
The court also directed that perjury proceedings be initiated against multiple witnesses, including police officials and independent witnesses, for allegedly giving false testimony. It granted liberty to the prosecution to seek a sanction to prosecute an approver-turned-witness who later turned hostile.
The case pertains to the killing of Yogesh Goudar, a BJP leader and former Dharwad Zila Panchayat member, who was hacked to death at a gymnasium in Dharwad in June 2016.
The matter, initially probed by local police and later handed over to the CBI, involved the examination of over 100 witnesses. Kulkarni, who was a minister at the time of the incident, was arrested in 2020 and later granted bail.
The court posted the matter for the pronouncement of the sentence order on April 17.
The court also directed the CBI to take the accused into custody.
Kulkarni broke down soon after the verdict was pronounced.
He was later taken to the Bengaluru Central Jail at Parappana Agrahara.
Following the conviction, Kulkarni is likely to face disqualification as an MLA.
