SIT names Sanatan Sanstha in Gauri Lankesh murder, says planning took 5 years
Bengaluru, Nov 24: The special investigation team (SIT), probing the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, has named Hindu right wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha in its additional charge sheet filed before a city court.
The SIT submitted the 9,235-page charge sheet in the Principal Civil and Sessions court here Friday.
The charge sheet stated that a network within Sanatan Sanstha targeted Lankesh for no personal reasons.
It also said the planning to kill Lankesh took place for almost five years.
“The killer and the killed have no personal or any other enmity. Why she was killed? Because she believed in certain ideology, she wrote and spoke on that. So, it must be an ideology and it must be an organisation,” Special Public Prosecutor S Balan told PTI.
The SIT has also sought permission to investigate the case further.
The first charge sheet in the sensational case was filed in May last.
Lankesh, 55, known for her left-leaning and strong anti-Hindutva views was shot dead in front of her house here on September 5 last year, triggering a nationwide outrage.
Soon after the then Siddaramaiah-led government constituted the SIT to probe into the killing.
So far, 18 people have been accused in the crime, including shooter Parashuram Waghmare, masterminds Amol Kale, Sujith Kumar alias Praveen and Amit Degwekar, SIT sources told PTI.
The gang is suspected to be involved in the killing of three other rationalists M M Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.
Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com
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Bengaluru police arrest illegal gun supplier from Bhopal
Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru police has arrested an alleged illegal gun supplier from Madhya Pradesh as part of an ongoing investigation into an arms network.
According to Deccan Herald, the accused has been identified as Irfan (34), a civil engineer from Bhopal.
According to the police, Irfan had supplied arms and ammunition to one Javed Alam, 19, from Bhopal. Alam and Syed Masood (26) from Siddapura in Bengaluru were arrested last month by the CCB. Their interrogation led investigators to Irfan.
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A team led by CCB Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Police Inspector Hemanth Kumar M, along with two Police Sub-Inspectors and local support from Koh-e-Fiza police in Madhya Pradesh, apprehended Irfan from his residence.
During the raid, Police recovered three country-made pistols, one disassembled revolver and two live rounds of ammunition from Irfan’s house. CCB had previously recovered one pistol and 50 live rounds from Alam and Masood.
“Irfan had only supplied to Alam, which has been revealed in our investigation so far. We believe that there's another person behind Irfan who's likely involved in large-scale manufacturing of illegal arms. He's on our radar,” DH quoted CCB officials as saying.
Further investigation is underway, police said.
