The arrest of a right wing activist for illegal possession of ammunition triggered reports on Friday that the State police had cracked the murder of Gauri Lankesh.
Acting on a tip-off, sleuths from the Organised Crime Wing of the Central Crime Branch, Bengaluru police arrested K.T. Naveen Kumar, 37, hailing from Maddur and a resident of Birur in Chikkamagaluru district, in Upparpete police limits on Sunday.
The police recovered five live bullets of a .32 revolver from his backpack. A case under the Arms Act was booked at Upparpete police station and, on Monday, CCB sleuths got 9-day custody of the accused.
The police team probing the case took the accused to Birur and recovered 10 more live bullets.
A senior officer said, “The accused often boasted of possessing arms and ammunition, but has no record of illegal arms trade. He is known to harbour extreme right wing sympathies, and founded the Hindu Yuva Sene in 2015.”
M.N. Anucheth, Investigating Officer, Special Investigation Team, clarified that the arrest was not made in connection with the Gauri Lankesh case and they are yet to question the accused.
According to an officer, "The SIT has been questioning illegal arm traders. We may question Naveen as well. But he was not on our radar."
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Chandigarh (PTI): Two persons have been arrested in connection with a blast at Punjab BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia's residence in Jalandhar, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
He further said the e-rickshaw used in the crime has also been recovered.
Addressing the media here, Special Director General of Police (law and order) Arpit Shukla said the crime was committed to disturb communal harmony.
"It was a major conspiracy of Pakistan's ISI. Zeeshan Akhtar, who is an associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and (Pakistani gangster) Shahzad Bhatti, they had hatched a conspiracy," said Shukla.
He further said an investigation into the possible links of the Babbar Khalsa International is also underway, adding that Punjab Police was also in touch with the central agencies.
A blast at Kalia's residence in Jalandhar early Tuesday damaged an aluminum partition, shattered glass windows of his home, his SUV and a motorcycle in the courtyard. No one was hurt, police said.
Kalia, a former Cabinet minister and former president of Punjab BJP, was at home when the explosion took place. He is also a member of the BJP's national executive.
There have been many incidents of explosions, targeting police posts in Amritsar and Gurdaspur in the past four to five months but this is the first such incident when the house of a prominent politician was targeted. Last month, a blast occurred outside a temple in Amritsar.