Mangaluru: Citing lack of evidence, the district Principal and Sessions court on Monday, April 30 acquitted three persons involved in the sensational murder of Karthik Raj at Konaje in 2016.
The acquitted are Karthik Raj’s sister Kavya Shree, Gautham, a resident of Kuthar Santhosh Nagara and Gautham’s brother Saurav.
Judge KS Bilagi heard 33 witnesses and ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges leveled against the accused. The accused were represented by advocates Venu Kumar, Yuvaraj K Amin and Udayananda.
As per the police chargesheet, the murder plot was hatched by Kavya, who had some differences with her brother over family issues. Irked by Karthik’s interference in her life, Kavya it is said had offered Rs five lakh to Gautham to carry out the murder.
Karthik Raj was attacked by unidentified miscreants on October 22, 2016. Later he succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital.
The murder got a political tinge when the BJP organised a series of protests demanding immediate arrest of the culprits alleging that people from a particular community were behind the murder. At one such protests Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel had provocatively said that he would set fire to the district if police failed to nab the assailant of Karthik Raj.
