Court finds Cong MLA Vinay Kulkarni guilty in BJP leader Yogesh Gowda murder case
Bengaluru (PTI): A Special Court for MPs and MLAs on Wednesday found Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni guilty in the 2016 murder of BJP leader Yogesh Gowda.
Along with him, 16 others were found guilty. Two other accused were acquitted by Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat.
The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Thursday.
Yogesh Gowda, a BJP member and former Dharwad Zila Panchayat member, was hacked to death at his gymnasium in Dharwad on June 15, 2016.
Kulkarni is accused of conspiracy in the murder. He was a minister at the time of the incident.
Initially handled by local police, the case was transferred to the CBI in 2019 when the BJP came to power.
The central agency has recorded statements of 113 witnesses and arrested Kulkarni in 2020.
The MLA spent over nine months in jail before receiving bail from the Supreme Court.
The court ordered the CBI, which investigated the case, to take custody of the accused.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
