Saurabh Mukherjee
The long-delayed trial in the 2017 Gauri Lankesh murder case is set to resume this month under a new presiding officer — the sixth judge to oversee the proceedings — following months of pause due to judicial reshuffling.
The development comes after Principal Civil and Sessions Judge B. Muralidhara Pai, who had been conducting the trial, was elevated to the Karnataka High Court on September 30, leading to a temporary halt since then.
According to an official notification issued by the Karnataka High Court on October 30, M. Chandrashekhar Reddy, registrar of the administration and inquiry wing of the Karnataka Lokayukta, has been appointed as the new principal civil and sessions judge in Bengaluru and will take charge on November 5.
The court of the principal sessions judge in Bengaluru has been handling the case since it is designated as the special court for cases under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA), 2000.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police, in its chargesheet filed in November 2018, named 17 accused linked to various fringe right-wing groups for the murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh.
The SIT alleged that the killing was coordinated by former members of the Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, who had formed a crime syndicate to target critics of Hindutva.
The trial, which began only in July 2022 despite the chargesheet being filed years earlier, has been repeatedly delayed due to factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic and numerous applications filed by the accused. These prolonged delays have resulted in all the accused being released on bail by the Karnataka High Court and the trial court, citing “delay in trial” as the primary ground.
Five judges — Shivashankar Amarannavar, Anil Katti, C. M. Joshi, Ramakrishna Huddar, and B. Muralidhara Pai — have previously presided over the case, each later elevated to the High Court after tenures ranging from a few months to two years. In October 2021, charges were framed under sections 302 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code for murder and criminal conspiracy, along with provisions of the KCOCA and the Arms Act due to the involvement of trained gunmen.
Last August, the Supreme Court dismissed two petitions filed by the Karnataka government and Gauri Lankesh’s sister, Kavitha Lankesh, seeking cancellation of the bail granted to one of the key accused, Mohan Nayak.
The Karnataka High Court had granted Nayak bail in December 2023, citing the prolonged delay in the trial. Upholding that order, the Supreme Court directed the trial court to expedite proceedings — a move that led to several other accused also being granted bail on similar grounds.
In response, the prosecution trimmed the list of witnesses from 500 to around 250 to fast-track the case, and over 200 witnesses have been examined so far.
Gauri Lankesh, 55, a prominent journalist and outspoken critic of right-wing Hindutva, was shot dead outside her home in west Bengaluru on September 5, 2017, by two motorcycle-borne assailants identified as Parashuram Waghmore and Ganesh Miskin. The SIT stated that members of extremist right-wing groups formed a syndicate responsible for attacks and killings of ideological critics between 2013 and 2018.
“The members of this organisation targeted persons who they identified to be inimical to their belief and ideology. The members strictly followed the guidelines and principles mentioned in ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’, a book published by Sanatan Sanstha,” the SIT said in its 2018 chargesheet.
Ballistic evidence in the Lankesh case also helped unravel the murders of scholar M. M. Kalburgi in Dharwad (2015), Leftist thinker Govind Pansare in Kolhapur (2015), and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune (2013). A ballistics expert was examined extensively in August and September this year before the proceedings were paused due to the elevation of the presiding judge.
However, the trial has faced further setbacks with witnesses turning hostile. Among nearly 200 witnesses examined so far, three — all linked to right-wing groups involved in the murder — have retracted their earlier statements.
In May, a witness from Belagavi who had earlier spoken about attending training camps with outside experts turned hostile. Similarly, in August 2023, a witness from Udupi denied participating in meetings and camps organised by the right-wing syndicate. Another witness affiliated with the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti also backtracked from his statement about lending his motorcycle to an accused to facilitate the crime.
With the appointment of a new judge, the trial — stalled for over two months — is expected to regain momentum, as the case continues to draw national attention for its implications on press freedom and ideological violence.
The development comes after Principal Civil and Sessions Judge B. Muralidhara Pai, who had been conducting the trial, was elevated to the Karnataka High Court on September 30, leading to a temporary halt since then.
According to an official notification issued by the Karnataka High Court on October 30, M. Chandrashekhar Reddy, registrar of the administration and inquiry wing of the Karnataka Lokayukta, has been appointed as the new principal civil and sessions judge in Bengaluru and will take charge on November 5.
The court of the principal sessions judge in Bengaluru has been handling the case since it is designated as the special court for cases under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA), 2000.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police, in its chargesheet filed in November 2018, named 17 accused linked to various fringe right-wing groups for the murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh.
The SIT alleged that the killing was coordinated by former members of the Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, who had formed a crime syndicate to target critics of Hindutva.
The trial, which began only in July 2022 despite the chargesheet being filed years earlier, has been repeatedly delayed due to factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic and numerous applications filed by the accused. These prolonged delays have resulted in all the accused being released on bail by the Karnataka High Court and the trial court, citing “delay in trial” as the primary ground.
Five judges — Shivashankar Amarannavar, Anil Katti, C. M. Joshi, Ramakrishna Huddar, and B. Muralidhara Pai — have previously presided over the case, each later elevated to the High Court after tenures ranging from a few months to two years. In October 2021, charges were framed under sections 302 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code for murder and criminal conspiracy, along with provisions of the KCOCA and the Arms Act due to the involvement of trained gunmen.
Last August, the Supreme Court dismissed two petitions filed by the Karnataka government and Gauri Lankesh’s sister, Kavitha Lankesh, seeking cancellation of the bail granted to one of the key accused, Mohan Nayak.
The Karnataka High Court had granted Nayak bail in December 2023, citing the prolonged delay in the trial. Upholding that order, the Supreme Court directed the trial court to expedite proceedings — a move that led to several other accused also being granted bail on similar grounds.
In response, the prosecution trimmed the list of witnesses from 500 to around 250 to fast-track the case, and over 200 witnesses have been examined so far.
Gauri Lankesh, 55, a prominent journalist and outspoken critic of right-wing Hindutva, was shot dead outside her home in west Bengaluru on September 5, 2017, by two motorcycle-borne assailants identified as Parashuram Waghmore and Ganesh Miskin. The SIT stated that members of extremist right-wing groups formed a syndicate responsible for attacks and killings of ideological critics between 2013 and 2018.
“The members of this organisation targeted persons who they identified to be inimical to their belief and ideology. The members strictly followed the guidelines and principles mentioned in ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’, a book published by Sanatan Sanstha,” the SIT said in its 2018 chargesheet.
Ballistic evidence in the Lankesh case also helped unravel the murders of scholar M. M. Kalburgi in Dharwad (2015), Leftist thinker Govind Pansare in Kolhapur (2015), and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune (2013). A ballistics expert was examined extensively in August and September this year before the proceedings were paused due to the elevation of the presiding judge.
However, the trial has faced further setbacks with witnesses turning hostile. Among nearly 200 witnesses examined so far, three — all linked to right-wing groups involved in the murder — have retracted their earlier statements.
In May, a witness from Belagavi who had earlier spoken about attending training camps with outside experts turned hostile. Similarly, in August 2023, a witness from Udupi denied participating in meetings and camps organised by the right-wing syndicate. Another witness affiliated with the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti also backtracked from his statement about lending his motorcycle to an accused to facilitate the crime.
With the appointment of a new judge, the trial — stalled for over two months — is expected to regain momentum, as the case continues to draw national attention for its implications on press freedom and ideological violence.
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