Gauri Lankesh’s killing was an organised crime, was planned for five years: SIT

Journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder was an organised crime carried out by people linked to the Hindu extremist group, Sanatan Sanstha, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) stated in a 9,235-page additional chargesheet. The chargesheet has named 18 people.

"We submitted an additional charge sheet against 18 accused persons to the Special Court. It is 9,235 pages. We have also sought permission to investigate further," MN Anucheth, said investigation officer at SIT of Karnataka Police.

“It is an act of organised crime. The Sanatan Sanstha has been named in the chargesheet as the group that carried out the killing with the help of members of other fringe groups. The murder was planned by a group involved in such killings for five years,’’ special public prosecutor S Balan said after the chargesheet was presented to the court of the principal sessions judge in Bengaluru.

“We have sought permission to investigate further,’’ the SIT’s chief investigating officer MN Anucheth said.

Gauri Lankesh, an editor of Kannada tabloid Gauri Lankesh Patrike, was murdered outside her house in Raja Rajeshwari Nagar on September 5 last year.

In May 2018, the SIT had filed the first charge sheet and had alleged the role of KT Naveen Kumar, a resident of Kadaluru (Mandya) in the killing. In the first chargesheet, the SIT had quoted Kumar as saying that Gauri was killed for her anti-Hindu views. A member of the Hindu Yuva Sena, Naveen Kumar was allegedly told of the murder plot after he participated in a convention of the Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) in Goa in June 2017.

SIT has arrested 17 people including Amol Kale (39) from Maharashtra, Amit Degwekar (39) from Goa and Manohar Edave (28) from Karnataka in connection with the murder.

The investigation team believes Parashuram Waghmare, a resident of Vijayapura district in North Karnataka had pulled the trigger and Ganesh Miskin from Hubbali had ferried the shooter to Gauri’s residence.