Girish Karnad was first on hit-list, Gauri Lankesh second: Investigators

BENGALURU: The SIT probing journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh's murder has fished out a diary with a 'hit-list' which has the name of film and theatre personality Girish Karnad's name on top, the police said on Wednesday.

Girish Karnad was among the most strident critics of hardline Hindutva whose security was stepped up following the killing of Lankesh in September last year.

Lankesh's name figures second among the intended targets in the diary which was recovered last month from the suspects arrested in connection with her killing.

"There is a list of targets prepared by a radical Hindu group. The names of Karnad and Lankesh have been mentioned at slot number 1 and 2. We are investigating further," a member of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) said.

The entries, he said, have been made in Devnagri script.

The names of politician-litterateur BT Lalitha Naik, pontiff Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamy of Nidumamidi Mutt and rationalist C S Dwarakanath also figure in the list. All of them are vociferous critics of the Hindu right.

The SIT has, meanwhile, arrested the 10th suspect in the Lankesh murder case. Rajesh D Bangera, 50, was arrested from Madikeri in Kodagu district on July 23. He was produced before a magistrate on Tuesday and remanded in SIT custody till August 6.