The High Court of Karnataka has upheld the decision of a special court to begin a new trial in the 2016 case of the murder of Yogeeshgouda Goudar, who was then a zilla panchayat member, in which Vinay Kulkarni, Congress MLA, is an accused facing the charge of being the main conspirator.
Gross variances
The Special Court of Sessions for criminal cases against former and present MLAs and MPs, Bengaluru, had on June 28, 2024, decided to commence a ‘new trial’ as there are gross variances in the number of accused, roles played by the accused persons, pieces of evidence, a larger conspiracy is noticed, and the then investigating officers are now arraigned as accused persons, etc., in the three supplementary chargesheets filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when compared with the initial chargesheet filed by the State police.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while dismissing the petitions filed by Vikram Ballari and five other accused persons, who had questioned the legality of the special court’s decision to conduct a ‘new trial’ when the trial was at an advanced stage. “On the entire analysis of the reasons rendered by the special court, there is no warrant to interfere with the order impugned,” the High Court said.
Trial court empowered
Citing various judgments of the apex court, Mr. Justice Nagaprasanna held that the trial court was empowered to add or alter the charges even when the trial was at an advanced stage and when the judgment was reserved after the completion of the trial. The trial court, considering the circumstances, has rightly chosen to conduct a ‘new trial’ as per Section 216(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC).
Rejecting the contention of the petitioners that the trial court is empowered to conduct a ‘new trial’ under Section 216(4) of the Cr.PC only when one of the parties should plead prejudice, the High Court said “the power under Section 216 is exclusive to the court and there is no right in any party, neither the complainant nor the accused nor the prosecution to seek addition or alteration by filing any application as a matter of right”.
The High Court said the special court had rightly chosen to conduct a ‘new trial’ to safeguard the interests of both the prosecution as well as the accused.
Case background
The murder was reported in June 2016, and the State police filed a chargesheet against six persons in September 2016, and the trial was conducted based on this chargesheet between 2017 and 2019, during which the State government asked the CBI to conduct further investigation. Mr. Kulkarni was arraigned as an accused in one of the three supplementary chargesheets, in which it had arraigned 21 persons as accused, and not in the chargesheet filed by the State police.
Published - September 04, 2024 09:22 pm IST
