Recently, The High Court of Karnataka granted bail to three men accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case.

Justice S Vishwajith Shetty granted bail to K T Naveen Kumar, Suresh H L, and Amit Degwekar on Tuesday, allowing their bail petitions under the condition that they must attend the ongoing trial as required. The detailed order copy is pending.

The petitioners relied on the high court's December 7, 2023 order granting bail to another accused, Sullia-based Ayurvedic medicine practitioner N Mohan Nayak, after the Supreme Court ruled that the provisions of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) did not apply to him.

The petitioners argued for bail parity, asserting that their charges of conspiracy, abetment, etc., were similar to those faced by N Mohan Nayak. They also pointed out that the prosecution had cited 527 witnesses, but only 130 had been examined since the trial commenced in July 2022.

Gauri Lankesh, a prominent journalist and human rights activist, was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle on the night of September 5, 2017, outside her residence in western Bengaluru's RR Nagar.

The SIT has named 18 accused/suspects in the case, including mastermind Amol Kale, shooter Parashuram Waghmare, and Ganesh Miskin, who was the motorbike rider on the night of the murder.