BJP ZP Member Murder Case: Former Karnataka Minister Vinay Kulkarni Gets Life Imprisonment

Bengaluru: A special court for elected representatives on Friday sentenced former Karnataka Minister and Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni and 15 others to life imprisonment in the murder case of Dharwad BJP zilla panchayat member Yogeeshgouda.

Special Court Justice Santosh Gajanan Bhat pronounced the sentence on Friday, two days after convicting 17 people, including Vinay, in the murder case.

With this, Vinay ceased to exist as an MLA. As per Section 8 of the People's Representative Act, sitting MPs, MLAs and MLCs will get automatically disqualified after being convicted for an offence attracting a sentence of two years. Besides, Vinay earns a dubious tag of being the first MLA from Karnataka to get a life sentence in a murder case.

Police inspector Chennakeshava Tingariker, who was also convicted in the case, is sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. Chennakeshava was accused of helping the assailants by tampering the witnesses.

Yogeeshgouda was hacked to death at his gym in Dharwad in the early hours of June 15, 2016. Vinay was a minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet then. The local police who investigated the case initially arrested six persons following their confession of killing Yogeeshgouda over a land dispute.

Vinay's name was not in the FIR. Following public pressure and the BJP, the state government handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in September 2019, and a fresh FIR was filed naming Vinay, which subsequently led to his arrest in November 2020.

He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in August 2021 with a condition barring him from visiting Dharwad district, under which his constituency -Dharwad -falls. Vinay was elected to the Assembly in 2023 by managing his campaign while staying at Kittur of neighbouring Belagavi district.

During the investigation, the case took several twists and turns with two of the main accused turning approvers and Vinay facing charges of influencing, tampering and threatening witnesses. The Supreme Court cancelled his bail in June 2025.

He got the bail for the second time from the apex court in February this year. There were as many as 21 accused in the case. While two turned approvers, two have been acquitted, including Vinay's personal secretary when he was the minister.