After nationwide protests and outrage over the brutal murder of activist and senior journalist Gauri lankesh, 55, on Tuesday by unidentified assailants, the Karnataka Government has decided to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the crime.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced this at a Press conference after holding a high-level meeting with police officers on Wednesday. Also, he said his Government has an “open mind” to an investigation by the CBI, a demand made by the slain journalist’s family.
“I have given direction to police that this case should be taken very seriously and it should be investigated exclusively by a special team, so a Special Investigation Team headed by IG-level officer will be constituted immediately,” Siddaramaiah said. Stating that the Karnataka DGP and IGP have been asked to constitute an SIT, he said, “They will take up the investigation very seriously and this investigation will be purely for this incident.”
In Delhi, Union Home Ministry sought a report from the Karnataka Government on the killing of Gauri. The move came after Home Minister Rajnath Singh directed Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba to get a report from the State Government, said a Home Ministry official.
The Karnataka Government has been asked to provide details of the incident and the steps taken to nab those involved in the killing, the official said.
In a ghastly incident unidentified assailants killed Gauri in front of her house silencing a voice which was highly critical of so-called divisive forces.
Gauri, a writer, publisher and editor, had returned home in her car and was opening the gate when motorcycle-borne assailants sprayed bullets, with two hitting her on the chest and one on her forehead. Police have started investigation based on CCTV footage and her phone records.
When pointed out to the CM that Gauri’s brother Indrajit lankesh has asked for a CBI probe into the incident, Siddaramaiah said the Government was not opposed to a CBI probe. “let us see, we have constituted SIT now, let them investigate. If the family members are very particular, I am with an open mind,” he said.
Gauri’s murder comes close to the second anniversary of the killing of noted Kannada writer and rationalist M M Kalburgi (77), who fell to the bullets of two unidentified men at his residence at Dharwad in north Karnataka, considered the State’s cultural capital, on August 30, 2015.
Gauri was the daughter of legendary Kannada journalist and founding editor of Kannada weekly tabloid ‘lankesh Patrike’.
Protests erupted across the city on Wednesday condemning the cold blooded murder. Journalists took out a march from the Press Club to the Vidhana Soudha, the State secretariat, and submitted a memorandum to Siddaramaiah, seeking immediate action to bring the culprits to book.
Press club of Bengaluru, Bengaluru Reporters Guild, Karnataka Union of working Journalists, television professionals and members of journalistic fraternity took part in the protest
“We strongly believe that such silencing methods are an attempt of divisive forces in a democratic system to stifle the media,” the memorandum said.