Four years after journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead in cold blood outside her residence in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017, the trial in the murder case is yet to begin. Police have accused 18 people, arrested 17 and filed chargesheets running into 10,000 pages. There have been no convictions and police continue an investigation into the logistics of the supply network involved in the murder.
Police, however, have filed new chargesheets over the past few weeks over procurement of SIM cards by the accused, according to a report in The Indian Express. The report states that the accused used fake identities and support networks for use in covert operations that led to the murder of 55-year-old activist-editor. Last month, police filed a chargesheet in Manipal against main accused Amol Kale for the illegal procurement of SIM cards used for planning and execution of the murder, as reported by the Express. The main chargesheet in the case was filed on November 23, 2018.
Gauri’s death sparked countrywide protests, and the then Congress government in Karnataka had formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the murder. According to a report in The News Minute, Gauri’s sister Kavitha has filed a plea before Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka High Court (HC) order quashing charges against an accused, Mohan Nayak, under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA), 2000. The high court had passed the order on April 22, 2021. The report states that Nayak, who was arrested on July 19, 2018, was accused of providing shelter to the main accused Kale and the shooter, identified as Parashuram Waghmore, at a house in Kumbalgodu on the outskirts of Bengaluru. While the state did not file an appeal against the HC order, Kavitha filed a private plea, the report said.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the plea on September 8, which will be key to the probe. Police have said if KCOCA charges were dropped against Nayak, it could set the precedence for charges to be dropped against other accused as well, as reported by Hindustan Times. The SC decision will also have an impact on the murders of other rationalists and activists, MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar. The SIT has said the assassination of Lankesh was linked to these three murders. Police have concluded that the same team was behind the murders, which were carried out for ideological reasons.
The name of a radical group called the Sanathan Sanstha has come up time and again in the case, but the outfit has denied any links to the accused or the case. The Manipal chargesheet, however, gives more clarity on the outfit’s involvement. As reported by HT, a “nameless” organisation recruited right-wing activists from different Hindutva outfits.
In a report by The Print, a senior SIT officer said excluding the weapon, the cost of assassinating Gauri was about Rs 30,000; this also included cost of training, accommodation and logistics arranged by Kale.
According to the chargesheets, the SIT probe found that this secretive outfit used a separate mobile phone to communicate with every person involved. As quoted in the Express report, Kale’s recruiter, identified as Sujeet Kumar, said, “Maintaining secrecy is a prime focus for our group. When we recruit any youth for our activities we never give him our mobile numbers. We speak to them only through public phone booths initially. Once we are sure that a youth is suited to be a part of our activities we provide them with a mobile phone to be used for exclusive communication…”
In another development, a Canadian city has decided to commemorate September 5 as ‘Gauri Lankesh Day’. The city of Burnaby made the decision during Burnaby City Council on August 30 and the proclamation was signed by city mayor Mike Hurley, whose announcement was published on the official website of the city administration subsequently, according to a report in HT. “Gauri Lankesh through her work encouraged her readers to adopt scientistic temperament and reject religious fanaticism, caste-based discrimination and bigotry,” read the proclamation on the city website as quoted by the report.
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