Bengaluru: The 2016 murder case, which Dharwad police attributed to a property dispute after arresting five men, was reinvestigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) some three years after the gruesome incident.CBI had to begin the investigation from ground zero. However, the will and the commitment of the investigating team led to the deserved result, said special public prosecutor Shivananda Perla. “We had concrete evidence like CCTV footage showing most of the accused persons running outside the gym holding weapons, call detail records of Vinay Kulkarni and Basavaraj Muttagi, etc, that helped us in building the case. Also, a week before the murder, Kulkarni had ferociously fought with Yogesh Goudar during a meet and issued dire threats,” Perla told TOI.He added that there was more clarity when the prime suspect, Basavaraj Muttagi, who later turned approver, made a detailed confession statement. “The approver’s statement played a major role in filing the chargesheet. It neatly explained the roles of everyone, including Kulkarni, in this case. CDR showing long-duration calls made between him and Kulkarni also strengthened the chargesheet,” he said. Another special public prosecutor, S Hema, along with Perla, believes despite attempts by Kulkarni to topple the case by threatening witnesses, the deposition went well. “Right from the beginning, Kulkarni tried to derail the case. First, taking help from Dharwad police, he projected it as a murder over property dispute. To prove this, Kulkarni even prepared documents of the lands that were close to the houses of Goudar and Muttagi. However, when CBI took over the case, all his plans toppled,” Perla said, adding that “many witnesses stood firm”.
