Bail hearing in Gauri murder case adjourned

K T Naveen Kumar, accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case, has agreed to undergo a narco analysis test, his advocate told the city civil and sessions court.

Hearing Kumar’s bail plea, the court posted the matter for further arguments to Saturday.

When the petition came up for hearing at 3 pm on Thursday, the prosecutor objected and presented his arguments. He said a witness — Syed Shabbir — made a positive identification of Kumar while he was in judicial custody.

He said Kumar will target anyone who speaks against Hinduism and should, therefore, be denied bail.

Shabbir also expressed fear that Kumar could tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses.

Firearm yet to be traced

The prosecutor also objected to his bail since the investigations were still going on; some of the accused were yet to be arrested and the firearm remains to be traced.

He also reminded the court of Kumar’s refusal to undergo a narco test after reaching Ahmedabad.

He also said Kumar had admitted to hatching the plot with accused Praveen at a house in Vijayanagar, which he identified to the police, besides phone call records of Naveen speaking to his friends Praveen, Girish and Abhishek, all of whom are witnesses in this case.

The witnesses’ voices are matching in this case and it is not the right time for Kumar to get bail, the prosecutor argued. The prosecution team also sought time to present the FSL report as part of the evidence, which the court granted, and adjourned the hearing.