Karnataka   

Asnotikar case: court vacates stay

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday vacated an order staying the lower court proceedings in the sensational Vasanth Asnotikar case.

Vasanth Asnotikar was the MLA for Karwar when he was gunned down on February 19, 2000 when he was standing in front of a marriage hall in Karwar. Asnotikar was at the hall to arrange for the reception of his daughter, Suchitra. Three bullets were pumped into Asnotikar by two motorcycle-borne miscreants.

Asnotikar died en route to a hospital.

The Karwar police had arrested the accused over a period of time and also filed split charge sheets (charge sheets filed over different points of time).

When the trial commenced, all the charge sheets were clubbed together. One of the accused, Sanjay Kishen Mohite, had obtained a stay from the High Court, saying that two of the prosecution witnesses — Pandurang Rayu Naik, an autorickshaw driver, and Anand Vasanth Asnotikar, the son of the slain MLA — were examined in their absence.

The High Court had accepted their contention and stayed the trial. The State had filed an application for vacating the stay.

Contending that the accused had misrepresented facts about the case, the State Public Prosecutor, S. Dore Raju, submitted that the Sessions Court had on April 27, 2007 permitted the re-examination of both Anand and Naik as per the provisions of the law.

He urged the court to vacate the stay and permit proceedings at the Sessions Court to continue. He said Mohite, a resident of Andheri West, Mumbai, and others were charged with the murder of Asnotikar. The Karwar police, he said, had registered cases under Sections 302, 120 (B) and 109 IPC along with Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.

Justice K. Bhaktavatsala accepted the contentions of the State and vacated the stay.

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