Yogesh Gowda was hacked to death at a gym in Dharwad on June 15, 2016.
A Special CBI Court in Bengaluru had, on April 17, 2026, sentenced former Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni and 15 others to life imprisonment after finding them guilty of conspiring to murder Gowda.
They were convicted under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147, 148 (rioting with deadly armed weapon), 201 (causing the disappearance of evidence) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),
The trial court directed that all sentences would run concurrently and ordered that ₹16 lakh from the fine amount be paid as compensation to Gowda’s children.
The present appeals before the High Court have been filed by seven such convicts (accused Nos. 2 to 7 and accused No. 18).
Vinay Kulkarni has also filed an appeal in the matter. He and eight other convicts were granted bail by the High Court on July 31, after their life sentences were suspended.