Cong MLA Vinay Kulkarni gets life for BJP leader Gowda’s murder
A special court in Bengaluru has sentenced Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni to life imprisonment for the 2016 murder of BJP leader Yogesh Gowda. The verdict was delivered on April 17 by Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat after Kulkarni and several others were found guilty.
Yogesh Gowda, a member of the Dharwad Zila Panchayat, was killed at a gym in Dharwad on June 15, 2016. Investigations revealed that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy involving multiple individuals.
Kulkarni, along with 15 others, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for charges including murder and criminal conspiracy. The court also imposed a fine of ₹30,000 on each of the convicts.
The case was initially investigated by local police before being handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed a chargesheet including offences such as conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and destruction of evidence.
The CBI arrested Kulkarni in November 2020. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court of India in 2021, but his bail was cancelled in 2025 after the court observed attempts to influence witnesses.
The court further directed that a portion of the fine be paid as compensation to the victim’s family, with all sentences set to run concurrently.
