Baliga murder case: Supplementary charge sheet will be filed shortly

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Nov 01, 2016: Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar has said that a supplementary charge sheet will be filed shortly in the murder of Vinayak Baliga.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Mr. Chandra Sekhar said that the police were awaiting reports related to investigation in the case.

“As soon as we get it, the supplementary charge sheet will be filed. It will be filed in the next few days,” the Police Commissioner said.

The police have arrested seven persons, including main accused Naresh Shenoy, in connection with the murder of Vinayak Baliga at Kodialbial here on March 21.

The police filed preliminary charge sheet on June 23 and sought permission of the court to file supplementary charge sheet.

Following the preliminary charge sheet, four accused persons have been released on bail.

The High Court of Karnataka granted bail to main accused on September 15. Manjunath alias Manju Neereshwalya, Shailesh and Srikant have also been released on bail.

Friday order

On Friday, the II Additional District and Sessions Judge granted bail to one of the accused persons while he rejected the application of another accused in the murder case.

The Judge, Sarvodaya Shettigar, granted bail to Srikant, an employee of main accused Naresh Shenoy. The judge rejected the bail application of Shivaprasad, who is charged with accepting money from Shenoy and murdering Baliga along with Vineet Poojary and Nishit Devadiga.

While Shivaprasad was arrested on April 13, Srikant, who worked at Shenoy’s Vivek Traders, was arrested on June 18. The two had applied for bail on July 25, a month after the police filed the charge sheet.

In the order granting bail to Srikant, the judge said that the charge sheet revealed that Srikant did not actively participate in the crime. The judge said that there were documents showing Srikant’s participation in the conspiracy to murder Vinayak Baliga.

The judge has directed Srikant to execute a personal bond of Rs. 1 lakh with one solvent surety for the same amount. Among the conditions imposed include a direction to the accused not to threaten any person connected with case.

In the order rejecting the bail application of Shivaprasad, the judge said that he [the accused] was directly involved in the murder. The facts and circumstances and also the seriousness of the offence allegedly committed by Shivaprasad did not warrant his release on bail, the judge noted.