Bengaluru: After the Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed the chargesheet in connection with the Lankesh murder, new revelations are being made almost daily. The latest revelation has been that forensic evidence points to a link between the murders of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh and Kannada scholar and researcher, M M Kalburgi.
Gauri Lankesh was gunned down at point-blank range in front of her home on September 5, 2017. M M Kalburgi was murdered on August 30, 2015. So far, five people have been arrested by the SIT in connection with Lankesh’s murder. All five-K T Naveen Kumar (from Maddur), Sujeet Kumar (from Udupi), Amol Kale (from Pune), Amit Degwekar (from Ponda) and Manohar Edave (from Vijayapura)-are said to be connected to the Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS).
The culprits behind Kalburgi’s killing remain unknown. So far, police have not arrested anyone nor recovered the murder weapon that snuffed Kalburgi’s life.
However, police did make some headway when they interrogated K T Naveen. In his statement to the police, K T Naveen revealed that Lankesh was murdered for her statements against the Hindu religion.
According to the forensic report attached to the chargesheet, the same 7.65 mm country pistol was used in both the murders.
After Lankesh’s murder, three bullets were recovered from her body and another that missed her was also collected. The bullets’ four empty cartridges were also recovered. This ballistic evidence was compared to the bullets and cartridges collected after Kalburgi’s murder. As per the report, the comparison between the “class characteristic marks” and “individual characteristic marks” of the firing pin on cartridge cases found in the two murder cases show that the same weapon was used for both murders.
This latest revelation has given some credence to the theory that same organisation and people may have been involved in both the murders.
