A special court in Bengaluru on Friday sentenced Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni and 16 others to life imprisonment in the 2016 murder case of BJP leader Yogeshguda Godar.
Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, judge of the Special Court for Cases Involving Elected Representatives, on Wednesday convicted Kulkarni and others under Section 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Chanakishava B. was sentenced. Tingarekar, the investigating officer at the time (accused No. 19), was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for destroying evidence. The accused, Vasudev Rama Nilekani and Somashekhar Niyamagowda, were acquitted on the basis of suspicion. Kulkarni and another accused, Chandrasekhar Inde, were acquitted of charges under the Arms Act.
The court ordered this $16,000 of the fines imposed on those convicted will be paid as compensation to the victim’s children, with the remaining amount forfeited to the state. She added that failure to pay fines would result in an additional three-month prison sentence.
For related crimes, the court issued separate rulings. Many of the defendants were sentenced to six months in prison and fined $2000 pounds for each illegal assembly. Charged with hooliganism and rioting with the use of deadly weapons, they were sentenced to one year’s rigorous imprisonment along with fines. To destroy the evidence, the court imposed aggravated imprisonment of up to seven years and fines $30,000.
The case relates to the murder of Godar, a BJP zilla panchayat member, in Dharwad on June 15, 2016. Kulkarni was a minister at the time.
Hired assailants attacked Godard and beat him to death at his gym in Saptapur in Dharwad. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the attackers immobilized the victim by throwing chilli powder in his eyes before attacking him with lethal weapons. A first information report was registered at Dharwad Suburban police station soon after the incident.
Karnataka Police initially conducted an investigation and arrested six people. Acting on demands from Godard’s family and others, the then BJP government referred the case to the CBI in 2019. Subsequently, the central agency filed a chargesheet citing crimes including conspiracy, murder, unlawful assembly, rioting with deadly weapons, destruction of evidence, illegal possession and trafficking of weapons and misconduct of a public servant.
Kulkarni was arrested by the CBI on November 5, 2020. The Supreme Court granted him conditional bail on August 11, 2021. However, on June 7, 2025, the Supreme Court canceled the bail, stating that credible evidence suggested that he had tried to influence witnesses during the trial. He was released on bail again in February 2026.
Charges were formally brought against the defendants on May 26, 2023. During the trial, the court also addressed issues relating to witness conduct and procedural irregularities. The prosecution was given liberty to seek punishment for the prosecution of one of the consent-turned-witness, Shivanand Srishaila Biradar, who later turned hostile. The court also directed the Registry to initiate proceedings under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure against some police personnel and independent witnesses on charges of perjury or forgery in court proceedings.
In a separate order issued simultaneously with the pronouncement of the sentence, the court took note of the request of some of the convicts regarding the conditions of their detention. “Since the last three days, the accused have been remanded in judicial custody wearing the same clothes and to maintain cleanliness and health, they (A7 and A15 Kulkarni) have submitted an application. The application submitted is justified… At the same time, the prison authorities are hereby directed to provide the convicts with new clothes as per the Prisons Manual,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar alleged that Kulkarni was the victim of a conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as he was gaining political importance in North Karnataka.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Shivakumar said: “I respect the court. But there was a big conspiracy in this case. When the police was about to file a B report, the CBI was given the case for harassing him (Kulkarni). Vinay Kulkarni became a victim of the BJP conspiracy while he was growing politically in North Karnataka.”
He added that the convicted MLA had a legal path to follow. He said: “I spoke to his family. I swear to God and he told me he didn’t do anything wrong… I feel like he didn’t do anything wrong. He has a chance to appeal.”
Meanwhile, former chief minister BS Yediyurappa told reporters in Chikkamagaluru: “I said what I needed to say when the crime happened, and what I said – that the guilty must be punished and justice must be done – has proven true.”
(with PTI inputs)
