Pics: Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur
Kundapur, May 11: More than four years after the murder of RTI activist Vasudeva Adiga in Kundapur shook the coastal region, all the eight accused in the case have been acquitted.
Kundapur additional district and sessions court on Thursday May 11 acquitted all the accused and absolved them of all the charges. The verdict was pronounced by judge Rajashekar Patil.
The prime accused, astrologer Ramesh Bayari, other accused Subramanya Udupa, Umesh, Naveen, Raghavendra, Mohan, Bengaluru advocate Ravichandra and Vijay Sarathi had been arrested on charges of murder, destruction of evidence and conspiracy to murder Adiga.
Vasudeva Adiga
Prime accused Ramesh Bayari
The then DySP Yashoda and SP Boralingaiah had questioned 143 witnesses in the case and filed the charge sheet.
Advocates from Mangaluru Vikram Hegde, Jagannath Alva, senior advocate Ravikiran Murdeshwar, Udupi's Sanjeeva M and Narasimha Hegde were the cousel for defence. Mangaluru advocate Shivaprasad Alva was the special public prosecutor in the case.
As many as 96 witnesses were cross-examined during the trial.
Due to lack of sufficient evidence and failure to prove the charges, the court acquitted all the eight accused.
Vasudeva Adiga went missing on January 7, 2013, and was said to have been kidnapped. Five days later, on January 12, his body was found in a decomposed state in a pond at Kadur in Chikkamagaluru. The case was registered in Shankarnarayana police station. The police had then suspected that Adiga was murdered owing to some land dispute and personal enmity. While seven of the accused were granted bail, the prime accused Ramesh Bayari's bail was rejected thrice, but the fourth time his bail plea was accepted.
Case Recall: