A special court in Bengaluru (Karnataka's state capital in southern India) sentenced Congress legislator and former minister Vinay Kulkarni, along with 16 co-convicts, to life imprisonment on 17 April for the criminal conspiracy and murder of a young BJP leader in Dharwad district in 2016. The court found all 17 guilty of orchestrating the killing, which occurred nearly a decade ago in Karnataka's northern Dharwad region. The verdict is a significant development given Kulkarni's standing as a sitting member of the state legislative assembly.