Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni sentenced to life term in BJP leader’s murder case

A special court in Bengaluru on Friday sentenced former minister and senior Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni (Dharwad) and 16 others to life imprisonment for criminal conspiracy and the murder of a BJP leader in Dharwad, 10 years ago.

Santosh Gajanan Bhat, the judge at the special sessions court for criminal cases against former and present MPs and MLAs pronounced the quantum of sentence. The court also imposed different sentences for different offences under provisions of the IPC besides fine.

With the court pronouncing a life sentence, Kulkarni faces immediate disqualification as an MLA under the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, which prescribes disqualification of lawmakers facing a prison term of two years and more.


The court found the Dharwad MLA and his co-accused guilty of murder of 26-year-old Yogeshgouda Goudar, a BJP zilla panchayat member in Dharwad under section 302 of IPC and criminal conspiracy (section 120B). The CBI investigated the murder case and filed a charge sheet against the 16 persons including the Congress leader.

Special public prosecutors Shivanand Perla and S Hema sought life imprisonment without remission for the accused (prison term till death), insisting that the court must send a strong message to society as the murder case involved a sitting MLA. The Congress leader’s advocates prayed for leniency citing his family responsibilities, but the Judge went by the prosecution plea going by the severity of the crime.

Goudar was hacked to death at his gym in Dharwad on June 15, 2016. The local police handled the investigation initially and arrested a few people before the government came under pressure to hand over the investigation to the CBI.

The CBI took over the probe in 2019 after allegations swirled around that Kulkarni, then a minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet in charge of Dharwad district, masterminded the killing to eliminate a BJP rival.