BENGALURU: The 3rd ACMM court on Wednesday rejected an application filed by a city-based advocate, NP Amrutesh, seeking that lawyers of Naveen Kumar alias Hotte Manja, a suspect in the
Gauri Lankesh killing
, be allowed to be present during the interrogation.
The court had heard the arguments of Amrutesh and senior public prosecutor Nirmal Rani on Tuesday and reserved its verdict.
The prosecutor opposed the application as the suspect had not signed the original vakalat nama and hence the advocate had no locus standi to represent the accused. Judge Prakash V upheld the contention of the prosecutor and dismissed the application.
Naveen Kumar alias Hotte Manja, a resident of Maddur in Mandya district, was arrested by CCB police on February 18 after they recovered 15 rounds of live bullets from him. On March 2, the special investigation team (SIT) probing Gauri's murder took Naveen into their custody to question him.