BENGALURU: Serving life imprisonment, Congress MLA Vinay Kulakarni was on Saturday disqualified from Legislative Assembly (MLA) over his conviction in a murder case and with it the Dharwad Assembly seat represented by him has fallen vacant.
The notification of Vinay Kulakarni’s disqualification was issued on Saturday but his disqualification as an MLA came into effect from April 15 the date of his conviction in the murder of then Zilla Panchayat member Yogesh Gouda. Yogesh Gouda of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was murdered at his gymnasium on 15/6/2016.
Secretary of Karnataka Legislative Assembly M.K. Vishalakshi on Saturday stated that under the provisions of article 191 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India with section 8 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 shall continue for a further period of 6 years after his release, unless the conviction is stayed by a competent Court.
Prior to his disqualification, Vinay Kulakarni moved the High Court of Karnataka challenging his conviction which sentenced him to life imprisonment by 81th Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru city. Vinay Kulkarni was accused 15 in the murder case and has been sentenced to double life imprisonment for murder and hatching conspiracy. Vinay Kulkarni will serve his life sentence concurrently.
Initially, the murder case of Yogesh Gouda was handled by Dharwad police and on the insistence of deceased family members, the then State Government transferred the case to sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). While Dharwad police charge sheet mentioned 6 accused, CBI charge sheeted as many as 21 including Vinay Kulakarni as accused 15.
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