'We're Going To Be Very Harsh': Supreme Court Tells Karnataka MLA, Grants One Day To File Material Against Bail Cancellation

The Supreme Court today declined to grant a week's time to Karnataka MLA and former Minister Vinay Kulkarni to bring on record certain documents against Karnataka government's plea for cancellation of his bail in BJP worker Yogesh Gowda's murder case over allegations of witness-tampering.

"It shall be open for the respondents to place on record any document either during the course of the day or handover the same during the course of the hearing tomorrow", the Court ordered.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma heard the matter and listed it for tomorrow, giving one day's time to Kulkarni's counsels to bring relevant material on record.

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared for Kulkarni beseeched the Court to grant a week's time, saying that the issue was touching upon Kulkarni's Article 21 rights and the State government had not filed certain documents which were there before the trial Court.

"We have not got any time in this. The other accused, whose cancellation is sought, the matter is reserved by the High Court...let that order also come. I'm not saying give me 4-6 weeks. Give me whatever reasonable time...if I don't get even a day's time to file a document...have it next week", he urged.

The request was opposed by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju (for Karnataka), who cited Kulkarni's prior conduct.

Declining to accommodate the Congress leader's request, Justice Karol said, "we are going to be very very unreasonable and harsh on you. We are adjourning the matter by one day". Accordingly, the matter was listed for tomorrow.

Notably, the bench again chided a counsel who appeared for Kulkarni yesterday and sought accommodation saying he did not even have his black coat as he was vacationing in his native village (even though he was wearing a black coat). The counsel apologized and explained that he was not lying, as he had borrowed someone else's coat.

"You put a senior counsel to great embarrassment yesterday...and you logged in thrice...it only speaks volumes about the counsel, forget about the clients...never do that in future. Don't embarrass anyone whom we know are noble people in the profession", Justice Karol posed to the counsel.

The Karnataka government has sought cancellation of Kulkarni's bail on the ground of witness-tampering. He was arrested in 2020 in relation to Yogesh Gowda's murder but enlarged on bail in 2021. For more details about the case, click here.

Case Title: THE STATE OF KARNATAKA Versus VINAY RAJASHEKHARAPPA KULKARNI, SLP(Crl) No. 7865/2025