HC refuses bail to Vinay Kulkarni, tells him to go to Supreme Court

Rejecting a plea for grant of bail made by Congress MLA from Dharwad constituency Vinay R. Kulkarni, the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday asked him to approach the Supreme Court as the latter cancelled his bail on the ground of “attempting to either contact or influence witnesses” in a 2016 case of murder of a BJP leader.

Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav, in his order dismissing Mr. Kulkarni’s petition, has said that “it will be against judicial propriety for any other court to reconsider and grant bail to the petitioner as the Supreme Court has cancelled bail on the ground of violation of conditions without reserving liberty” to seek bail afresh.

Mr. Kulkarni filed the petition seeking bail after the trial court declined to grant him bail citing the Supreme Court’s June 2025 order cancelling his bail.

‘Change in circumstances’

He sought bail while pointing out that there has been “a change in circumstances” now as all the important witnesses have been examined and their statements have been recorded by the trial court and it is only the evidence of official witnesses that remains to be recorded.

It was also pointed out that Mr. Kulkarni enjoyed relief of bail for four years as the Supreme Court itself granted bail to him in August 2021 before cancelling it in June 2025 on the ground of him making an attempt to tamper with evidence.

However, the High Court said, “By misuse of liberty granted, the petitioner disentitled himself from claiming to be released on bail by relying on merits of claim of bail on any grounds. The accused is required to move the Supreme Court itself for reconsideration.”

While “change in circumstances” can be a ground for re-approaching the court seeking fresh bail where an application has been rejected on merits, the same logic cannot be extended in cases where bail granted is cancelled due to violation of conditions, the High Court said.

Murder case

The murder Yogeeshgouda Goudar, who was then a zilla panchayat member from the BJP, was reported in June 2016 and the State Police filed a chargesheet against six people in September 2016. The trial was conducted based on this chargesheet between 2017 and 2019.

However, the State government in 2019 asked the CBI to conduct further investigation and the CBI, in its chargesheet arraigned 21 people, including Mr. Kulkarni as accused. He was not an accused in the chargesheet filed by the State Police.