The High Court of Karnataka has granted bail to Mohan Nayak N,, who is arraigned as Accused Number 11 in the murder of editor-activist Gauri Lankesh, on the grounds that the trial has been delayed for no fault of his and that it might not be completed any time soon.
There are 527 chargesheet witnesses in the case and only 90 of them have been examined in the past two years, even though the High Court in February, 2019 directed the trial court to expedite the trial while dismissing Nayak’s earlier bail plea, the High Court said, while noticing that he has been in judicial custody since July 18, 2018.
Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty passed the order on December 7 while allowing a petition filed by Nayak, 51, who had moved the High Court, after the trial court this July 6 refused to release him on bail on the grounds of inordinate delay in the trial.
