Bengaluru, Sept 08: The Special Investigation Team probing the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh has taken into custody one more person in connection with the case.

Sources in the SIT said Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, who was arrested from Pune by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in August in connection with the seizure of a huge cache of explosives, was brought to Bengaluru Friday on transit remand.

He was produced in a local court which remanded him in police custody for 14 days. With this, 14 suspects have been arrested in the case.

A native of Satara, Gondhalekar has confessed to his role in the Lankesh killing, SIT sources said.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra police had arrested three members of a suspected right-wing Hindutva outfit, including Gondhalekar, in August and seized a huge quantity of explosives, including crude bombs.

The ATS had said they would be questioned about all the cases in which the involvement of right-wing extremists was suspected, including the Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and (journalist) Gauri Lankesh killings.

Left-leaning Lankesh, who was strongly opposed to Hindutva, was shot dead on September 5 last year by two motorcycle-borne assailants near her house here, triggering outrage.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com

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Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra BJP on Wednesday posted a video on X showing checking of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' bags, and said merely holding the Constitution for "show" is not enough and one must also follow the constitutional system.

Some leaders have the habit of creating "drama", the BJP said in the post, which comes after former CM Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) shared videos online over the last two days of his bags being checked by poll authorities.

In the last two days, Thackeray claimed his bags were inspected by the election authorities after he arrived in Latur and Yavatmal districts to campaign for the November 20 state assembly elections.

Thackeray had also asked if the same law would be applied to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders of the ruling alliance during their campaign.

On Wednesday, the state BJP unit posted a footage on its social media handle X, showing Fadnavis' bags being checked by security personnel at Kolhapur airport on November 5.

The ruling party in the post along with the video said, "Let it be, some leaders just have a habit of creating drama."

The BJP said the deputy CM's bag was checked in Yavatmal district on November 7, but he neither recorded any video nor made a fuss about it.

Earlier, on November 5, Fadnavis' bags were also checked at the Kolhapur airport, it said referring to the video.

"Simply holding the Constitution for show is not enough; one must also follow constitutional systems. We only request that everyone respects the Constitution," the BJP said in the post.

On Tuesday, Fadnavis said Thackeray was trying to divert the attention by needlessly protesting about the checking of his bags by poll officials and was "seeking votes by whining".

What is wrong with checking of bags? the senior BJP leader had wondered.

Thackeray's frustration was showing, he added.