Spiking all speculation about various reports doing the rounds, Karnataka Home Minister Ramlinga Reddy said so far there is no lead in the murder of noted journalist Gauri lankesh. He told the media in Bengaluru that there has been no arrest or lead in the case either.
However, the speculation in the media is ripe about the bullets fired on Gauri were similar to that of rationalist thinker MM Kalburgi in 2015. According to sources in the SIT they have submitted the bullets and cartridges found at the scene of murder to the Forensic Science laboratory (FSl) in Bengaluru and expecting a report on Friday.
According to SIT team, the report is expected to indicate the type of weapon used, the calibre — and whether a single weapon was used to kill the journalist or if shots were fired from more than one weapon. However the sleuths say it was too early to predict anything about similarities about the gun used in the murders of Gauri and Kalburgi. The SIT is also taking the help of CBI and other investigating agencies to corroborate to a lead in the case.
They are at this juncture using the CCTV footage from Gauri’s house for an indepth analysis. A source said it was difficult to see anything in the footage with a blur image of Gauri being shot dead by a person in a helmet and no number plate is visible on the motorbike the person was riding. The killer’s face is also not seen.
Rationalist thinker MM Kalburgi was also shot dead outside his house in Dharwad in 2015 and so far there is no clue about his murderers. It is widely believed that both were killed because of the views they held and openly expressed and the onus is on ruling Congress Government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Meanwhile BJP blamed Siddaramaiah Government and also BJP sent a legal notice to historian Ramachandra Guha, who had alleged that Gauri lankesh’s killers could be from the Sangh Parivar — a group of organisations led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological mentor.
Gauir’s brother Indrajit had openly mentioned that Maoists could be behind the killing. However Gauri’s sisiter Kavitha lankesh had denied the role of Maoists in the killing of Gauri. This has lead to lot of speculation and SIT is also looking at many angles to crack the case.
Meanwhile the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has denied allegations that they were involved in the murder of journalist Gauri lankesh and said that she was killed by Hindu fascist forces. Describing lankesh as a “leftist, pro-people, progressive and democratic journalist”, a release issued by Abhay, spokesman of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist), condemned her murder and appealed for intensifying the struggle against “fascist Hindutva forces” beyond “symbolic protests” with “now-or-never” urgency.