Forty days after the murder of journalist-turned-activist Gauri lankesh, the probing Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police in its first official briefing released three sketches of two male suspects on Saturday.
The SIT in its briefing in Bengaluru even though did not elaborate any concrete lead to her killers said they have found only one eye witness to the entire episode so far. SIT Chief BK Singh said, “We have three sketches of two male suspects based on information from our technical team and information from locals. We know that they had stayed in Bengaluru for at least a week before committing the murder and even did a reconnaissance of her house.”
Journalist Gauri was brutally shot dead in front of her house at Rajarajeshwari Nagar on the night f September 5 which witnessed widespread protests across the country.
Even though many theories have been in the air about her killers (blaming left and right wing elements), the SIT is still groping in the dark about the killers.
He said there are both similarities and equal number of dissimilarities with earlier cases where some right wing groups were suspects. “We cannot, at this juncture say anything conclusively, “ he added.
“We have identified the make of the bike used, and are in the process of verifying it. There are too many bikes of that make and we cannot at this moment reveal which bike it was,” Singh said.
He added that his team has examined 75TB of footage from more than 600 CCTV cameras and that they also have one eye-witness.
Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy had been saying that the SIT has definite clues about the murder of Gauri lankesh. But the SIT refused to say anything concrete as the identity of the killers.
BK Singh also said his team has no knowledge about who the suspects may be but requested the public to provide information. “If anybody thinks that they may have seen people who look similar to the faces in the sketches must inform us,” Singh said.
The SIT, also released a clipping of the suspect riding a bike in a white formal shirt . Both the suspects are expected to be aged between 25 and 35 years, and the SIT believes that they are no more in Bengaluru. DCP (West) MN Anucheth, who is the lead investigating officer of the SIT, said, “We have used multiple artificial intelligence software during the investigation too, but I cannot reveal their names of other details now.”
Answering a specific question on the progress of the investigation, Singh said, “So far, based on the evidence at hand, we have only ruled out the work-related angle, every other angle including personal is still open to investigation.”
On the Gun used to kill Gauri he said “No, there is no FSl report that says that the weapon used has matched with the one used in MM Kalburgi case or any other case. While the cartridges from the Kalburgi case has now arrived, we haven’t yet requested for the cartridges from the (Govind) Pansare and (Narendra) Dabholkar cases.”
The 21-member SIT headed by Inspector General of Police Singh was constituted a day after the murder of Gauri on September 5 evening when she was shot dead by unidentified assailants while opening the gate of her house. The SIT scrambled through footages from various private and public CCTV cameras, quizzed many people and obtained details from a number of people.
The State Dovernment has announced Rs 10 lakh reward to anyone who gives clue about the killing. As political slug fest broke out on the killing of Gauri, her family had made a plea against giving political colour to it.