Gauri Lankesh murder case: Plot hatched in cop’s house !
Bengaluru: A special investigation team has reported that the accused in the murder of Journalist Gauri Lankesh had hired a police officer’s home and hatched the plot there itself.
Suresh Kumar, a resident of Tumkur, had hired the house belonging to an ACB Inspector in Seegehalli on Magadi Road to reside with his wife and children. After few days, he sent his family to the town and allowed Amul kale of Pune, Maharashtra’s Sujit Kumar and other accused to stay in the house. Besides, he facilitated food and other things for them.
After killing Gauri, the arrested Parshuram Waghmore and Ganesh Miskin returned to the house and picked up their belongings and vacated the home on September 06, 2017. Even Suresh also escaped.
After their arrest, Maddur’s Naveen Kumar and Parshuram Waghmore, who gave these statements in front of the SIT officials, attempted to derail the investigation by telling the officials that they did not know about the Gauri’s murder in later stages.
Officials said that the Suresh's role was found recently when Rajesh Bangera and Mohan Nayak of Madikeri and a few others were arrested and interrogated.
A police officer was unaware
The police officer had given his Seegehalli house to his relative to look after it. That relative rented it out to them. Therefore, this matter had not come to his attention. Even the accused Suresh had hired the house by telling that he wanted to reside with his family and shown his wife and children, the officials said.
Custody hearing on Monday
The court has adjourned to Monday for hearing the petition filed by SIT officials seeking the custody of accused Suresh Kumar for inquiry.
The special prosecutor for SIT argued that Suresh had provided shelter and other facilities to the accused. Therefore he needs to be detained and prosecuted. But Suresh's advocate has asked for more time to argue. The trial was held on Friday and was adjourned to Saturday.
"Suresh is likely to have concealed or destroyed the important evidence, including the weapon. He has to be taken into custody," SIT officials said.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
