Advocate Sushila
SUPREME COURT REITERATES FACTORS FOR INVOKING ORGANIZED CRIMES ACT 2000, IN JOURNALIST, GAURI LANKESH MURDER CASE
Advocate Sushila Ram 24 Oct 2021

SUPREME COURT REITERATES FACTORS FOR INVOKING ORGANIZED CRIMES ACT 2000, IN JOURNALIST, GAURI LANKESH MURDER CASE

A three-Judge Bench of the #SupremeCourt recently passed a Judgment dated 21-10-2021 in the #Journalist, #GauriLankesh #murder case titled as, Kavitha Lankesh vs State of Karnataka and Others, and reiterated the factors to be considered by a competent Police Authority, while giving #priorapproval to an Investigating Officer to invoke the provisions pertaining to organized crime under the Karnataka Control of #OrganisedCrimes Act 2000 (Organised Crimes Act).


In this case, a leading Journalist, Late Gauri Lankesh was killed by unknown assailants near her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bengaluru on 05-09-2017. Her sister, Kavitha Lankesh lodged a complaint with the Rajarajeshwari Nagar Police Station (Complaint). The said Complaint was registered as FIR No. 221/2017 dated 05-09-2017 against one, Mohan Nayak N. (Accused) for offences punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 (IPC) (Punishment for murder) and Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959 (Punishment for certain offences) (Arms Act). The investigation was later handed over to the Special Investigating Team (SIT) on 06-09-2017.

A preliminary chargesheet was filed against the Accused on 29-05-2018. The matter came up before the City Civil and Sessions Judge in CC No.14578 of 2018. The Accused was arrested on 18-07-2018 for the said crime. During the investigation, it was found that the other accused persons in Special CC No.872 of 2018 were also involved in organizing the crime as a syndicate, for which punishment under Section 3 of the Organised Crimes Act (Punishment for organized crime) would be attracted.

The SIT submitted its report to the Chief Investigating Officer, who then sought permission from the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru to invoke Section 3 of the Organised Crimes Act. Thereafter, the Police Commissioner issued a Communication dated 14-08-2018 and accorded prior approval under Section 24 (1) (a) of the Organised Crimes Act, for invoking Section 3 of the Organised Crimes Act, in respect of the crime mentioned in FIR No. 221/2017:

Section 24. Cognizance of and investigation into an offence:

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code, 

(a) No information about the commission of an offence of organized crime under this Act shall be recorded by a police officer without the prior approval of the police officer not below the rank of the Deputy Inspector General of Police

After completion of investigation, the Additional Director General of Police and the Police Commissioner accorded sanction under Section 24 (2) of the Organised Crimes Act.

Section 24. Cognizance of and investigation into an offence:

(2) No Special Court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act without the previous sanction of the police officer not below the rank of an Additional Director General of Police

In the Final Police Report dated 23-11-2018 filed before the Special Court, Bengaluru, further charges were invoked under the Arms Act and the Organised Crimes Act. Additional chargesheet was also filed before the Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge in Special CC No.872 of 2018 against various accused persons including Mohan Nayak N. The Court took cognizance on 17-12-2018.


To read more, please visit the link below:


https://theindianlawyer.in/supreme-court-reiterates-factors-for-invoking-organized-crimes-act-2000-in-journalist-gauri-lankesh-murder-case/


#supremecourt #organisedcrime #journalist #gaurilankesh #murder

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