'Eye Witnesses Turned Hostile': Vijay Kulkarni Tells Karnataka High Court In Plea Against Conviction, Life Term In Yogesh Gouda Murder Case

 Former Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni told the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday (June 02) that the trial court order convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment for the murder of BJP Leader Yogesh Goudar was based on 'extraneous considerations' as none of the eye witnesses had supported the prosecution case.

The Division bench of Justice Mohammad Nawaz and Justice G Basavaraja was hearing arguments in the criminal appeals filed by Kulkarni (Accused No.15), and other convicts challenging their conviction and life imprisonment in the 2016 murder of BJP Zilla Panchayat member Yogesh Goudar.

Senior Advocate CV Nagesh appearing for Kulkarnai took the Court through the chronology of the case.

On June 15, 2016, Yogesh Gouda, a member of the Zilla Panchayat, Dharwad, met with a homicidal death. Nagesh said that the  initial investigation by Dharwad Police resulted in a chargesheet against A1-A6. The matter went up for trial before the Sessions Court, Dharwad. 62 witnesses were examined, but not a single witness supported the prosecution, Nagesh submitted further.

He alleged that the investigation was transferred to the CBI by the subsequent BJP government that came into power thereafter. 

" …There were proclamations made in various political platforms by BJP president to the effect that you please cast your votes in our favour, we will ensure that the accused who are not chargesheeted are secured by the CBI… Permission of magistrate is required for the purpose of investigation transfer. Government issues a notification saying further investigation will be entrusted to CBI. We question the order passed by state…it has no jurisdiction under section 173(8) CrPC to pass such an order…only a court can order the same”, Senior Counsel Nagesh added.

He further argued that the CBI filed multiple additional chargesheets. In the first additional chargesheet, A1-A6 were exonerated by CBI. Instead, A7-A14 are marked as actual assailants. Two months later, a second additional chargesheet was filed naming A15 and A16 (including Vinay Kulkarni) with the aid of Section 120B. Another report was filed two months later against A18 and A21 (public servants), said Adv. Nagesh.

The case was subsequently transferred to the special court for cases against MPs/MLAs, the counsel submitted.

On another aspect, Nagesh submitted that the entire case rests on direct evidence with seven alleged eye witnesses. He pointed out that 61 witnesses were recalled and examined afresh by the CBI after the case was transferred to it in 2019. Out of the seven eye witnesses, six have turned hostile after the case was transferred to the Special Court for MP/MLA cases Bengaluru from Sessions Court Dharwad, Nagesh said. 

Referring to witness PW13 Lakshmi Benegatti, who claimed to be an eye witness of the occurrence at the Gymnasium, Nagesh argued that before the Special Court at Bengaluru, she referred to A7, A9 and A12 and attributed overt acts of assault by them against the deceased.

However, Nagesh submitted that A7 was not subjected to Test Identification Parade (TIP), and A12 was not identified in court at all by PW13 Lakshmi. He also pointed out that after the incident, she did not tell her parents, sister, brother or colleagues on what she had witnessed. Moreover, her mobile phone has not been examined to assess her location at the time of incident.

"…. The six other eye witnesses who turned hostile eliminate the presence of Lakshmi at the scene of occurrence…" Nagesh argued.

Meanwhile ASG SV Raju appearing for the CBI, submitted that CCTV footage showing her presence has been collected.

Nagesh responded that some person was seen walking outside the gym on the proposed date of incident and none of the other witnesses have established that it was actually Lakshmi herself. Moreover, the manager of the Gymnasium has deposed before the trial court that Lakshmi was not present at the Gym during the alleged time of crime's occurrence.

Raju then objected to the precedence given to the MLA, stating, "….There will be other people languishing in jail, just because he is an MLA, he can't be getting precedence in the hearing of appeals…"

The Bench noted the submissions and listed the matter for further arguments by another co-accused, Chandrasekhar, on June 3 (tomorrow) at 2:30 PM. The Court directed the CBI make its submissions in reply on June 8.

Context

Yogesh Goudar, a zilla panchayat member of the BJP from Hebballi constituency, was murdered by an armed gang at his gym in Saptapur in Dharwad in 2016. An FIR was registered with the Dharwad Sub-Urban Police Station at the instance of the deceased's wife. The Dharwad Police subsequent to his murder arrested six persons and charge sheeted them for murder. The probe was later transferred to CBI.

For context, on April 16, Special Court Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat had pronounced the quantum of sentence as life term imprisonment wherein the accused, including Vinay Kulkarni were physically present.

The trial court had also awarded Rs 16 Lakhs as compensation to the children of the deceased BJP Leader. Accused 2-16 and Accused 18 in the case have been awarded with life imprisonment. Accused -19 Chennakeshva Tingarikar, the investigating officer at the time, has been sentenced to 7 years of jail time.

Case Title: Vinay Rajshekarappa Kulkarni v/s State of Karnataka

Case No: CRL.A 764/2026