Gauri Lankesh murder case: Maharashtra accused ‘pops up’ in footage
Maharashtra, August 26: The SIT now believes Gondhalekar, the owner of a design firm, was one of the “key persons” in the Lankesh murder. Sources said that 10 days after the killing, he had returned to Bengaluru to retrieve the guns used in the murder.
The Karnataka Police claims to have found that one of those arrested by the Maharashtra ATS in connection with plotting terror attacks in the state was present in the vicinity of journalist Gauri Lankesh’s home on the day she was murdered, nearly a year ago. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police, probing the September 5, 2017, murder, recently returned to CCTV footage from cameras located near Lankesh’s home, in Rajarajeshwari Nagar area of Bengaluru, and reportedly found that a man resembling Sudhanva Gondhalekar was present there four hours before the killing.
Gondhalekar, 39, was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS on August 10. Believed to be associated with the radical right-wing Shri Shivpratishthan Hindustan and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS, an affiliate of the Sanatan Sanstha), Gondhalekar’s role is being investigated by the ATS in an alleged plot to carry out blasts in five Maharashtra cities. Confirming CCTV footage showing a person resembling Gondhalekar, an SIT official said, “We have sent it for analysis.” The SIT is likely to seek custody of Gondhalekar when his police custody in Maharashtra comes to an end. The SIT believes Gondhalekar and possibly an accomplice made a round of Lankesh’s home to ensure that the murder plan was on track, since a previous attempt to kill the journalist days earlier had failed.
The SIT now believes Gondhalekar, the owner of a design firm, was one of the “key persons” in the Lankesh murder. Sources said that 10 days after the killing, he had returned to Bengaluru to retrieve the guns used in the murder. These are alleged to have been stashed in a safe house, said to have been provided by a civil contractor from the Kunigal region of Karnataka, H L Suresh. The latter, also an activist of the HJS, is described as a “seeker” in a 2008 article by the HJS on a series of anti-terrorism exhibitions conducted by it, and is under arrest.
The SIT believes Gondhalekar was also closely associated with Amol Kale, 37, a Pune-based former HJS convenor, who is alleged to be the head of the covert group that carried out Lankesh’s murder. Kale was arrested on May 31, and the SIT claims to have found links between him and Gondhalekar through call records of Kale. Gondhalekar reportedly also appears in a diary Kale maintained, often in code, on the operations he was carrying out in Karnataka. SIT sources said Gondhalekar was referred to as “Pandey” and “Gujjar” in Kale’s diary and during his communications with gang members.
Gondhalekar could lead investigators to two guns reportedly used by the group to carry out four murders since 2013, sources said, including Lankesh’s. The SIT is hoping that the 7.65 mm country-made pistol used to kill the journalist could be part of the arms allegedly stockpiled by Gondhalekar, as claimed by the Maharashtra ATS. In a press release on August 11, the ATS had said it had seized 16 country-made pistols from multiple locations on the basis of Gondhalekar’s confession. Gondhalekar may have also provided shelter to another key suspect in the Lankesh murder case, Sujeet Kumar alias Praveen, 38, in Satara, at a friend’s place. Police had been looking for Sujeet, a former HJS activist, after making the first arrest in the murder case, of K T Naveen Kumar, in March this year. Sujeet is also under arrest now.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Caste census report in Karnataka recommends increasing BC reservations to 51 pc
Bengaluru, Apr 12 (PTI): The caste census report, which was submitted before the Karnataka cabinet, has recommended increasing reservations for Backward Communities from the existing 32 per cent to 51 per cent, government sources said on Saturday.
According to sources, the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey, caste census in short, also highlights that the population of BC is 70 per cent.
The report also suggests that 51 per cent reservation should be given to the Backward Communities in educational institutions in the state.
It cited the example of Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, which are providing 69 and 77 per cent reservations respectively as per the backward class population, the sources said.
According to the survey report, the population of Backward Communities in 1A category is 34,96,638, 1B- 73,92,313, 2A- 77,78,209, 2B- 75,25,880, 3A-- 72,99,577 and the Backward Community in the 3B category is 1,54,37,113, sources claimed.
This way the total population of Other Backward Castes is 4,16,30,153, sources said.
The sources citing the report claimed that the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes population is 1,09,29347 and 42,81,289 respectively. The sample survey comprises population of 5,98,14,942.
The survey was initially commissioned by H Kantharaj in 2015 and later Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde completed it and submitted the report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in February 2024.
