Gauri Lankesh murder: SIT yet to acquire clear lead; Karnataka govt to not share details on probe

Bengaluru: Ten days after the cold-blooded murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case is yet to get any clear lead into the killing that had sparked outrage across the country. The Karnataka government Thursday said it does not want to share any details pertaining to the killing of the journalist, who was gunned down at her residence by unidentified assailants on the night of 5 September. “Right now, we don’t want to share anything with the media. We don’t want to discuss the FSL report, for now,” Home minister Ramlinga Reddy told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_4026269” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of protests after Gauri Lankesh’s murder. PTI[/caption] On Thursday there were reports that the SIT would receive the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report that would, among other things, also indicate the type of weapon used in the crime. The SIT has said that it was also looking into whether any Right-wing organisation was involved or was it the handiwork of Naxals, who were unhappy with the efforts of Gauri to bring them into the mainstream. The journalist’s brother Indrajit Lankesh was questioned by the SIT on Wednesday, based on a complaint filed by Gauri in 2005 accusing him of threatening her with a gun over a property dispute. Indrajit had earlier said, “Every angle has to be probed whether it is Right-wing extremists or Naxalites … it has to be probed as Gauri was rehabilitating Naxals.” A 21-member SIT headed by IGP (Intelligence) BK Singh is probing the case, and the state government has also announced a Rs 10 lakh reward to anyone providing clues about the killing. Some intellectuals have also said that they would move the Supreme Court if the SIT failed to crack the case quickly. Noted writer and thinker Dr K Marulasiddappa on 10 September had demanded that the case should be probed by a Supreme Court-monitored special investigation team so that the investigation is free of political influence. Civil rights activists have been expressing concern that the incident should not meet the fate of the MM Kalburgi murder case. The rationalist was shot dead at his residence in Dharwad in August 2015. Reddy on Wednesday had dismissed as “mere speculations” reports about the modus operandi of the assailants and that the same type of weapon used to kill Kalburgi was used to murder 55-year-old Lankesh also.