Congress leader and former Minister Vinay Kulkarni, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday, will be in CBI custody for three days for further questioning.
Second Additional District and Sessions judge Panchakshari M., who holds additional charge as Third Additional District and Sessions judge, heard the arguments of both sides through videoconferencing on Friday and granted the three-day custody. Mr. Kulkarni’s counsel had opposed it, saying it was unnecessary as their client was cooperating with the CBI in their investigation by appearing before them.
The judge asked the CBI sleuths to produce him before the court on Monday.
Seers take a plunge
Meanwhile, two seers of the Lingayat Panchamasali community, to which Mr. Kulkarni belongs, have taken exception to the development, and Basava Jaya Mrutyunjay Swami of Lingayat Panchayamasli Peetha of Koodalasangama visited Mr. Kulkarni’s residence and consoled the family members. The swami told presspersons that “injustice” had been meted out to the former Minister “for political reasons”. “The legal battle is on, and truth will always win,” he said.
Seer of Veerashaiva Panchamasali Peetha at Harihar, Vachanananda Swami, too took exception to the development and said that if it was part of a political conspiracy, he would condemn it strongly. This apart, the seer of Murugha Mutt of Dharwad, Mallikarjun Swami, too termed the development “painful” and said that truth would prevail.
The day also saw Congress leaders holding a protest in Hubballi. They submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India, seeking his intervention.
Submitting the memorandum to Hubballi tahsildar Shashidhar Madyal, the president of the Hubballi-Dharwad Urban district unit, Altaf Halwoor, and others urged the President to intervene to provide justice to Mr. Kulkarni.
Former Minister and Lingayat leader M.B. Patil of the Congress too termed the arrest “politically motivated”. However, both Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the CBI was doing its duty and there was no truth in such allegations.
Meanwhile, CBI sleuths continued questioning Vijay Kulkarni, the younger brother of Mr. Vinay Kulkarni, on Friday as well. They had let him off after a marathon grilling on Thursday, but summoned him for questioning again on Friday.
