Waghmare killed Lankesh; outfit has footprints in 5 states
Bengaluru: Parashuram Waghmare, the last of the six suspects arrested in connection with the killing of journalist-actvist Gauri Lankesh, was her assassin, the SIT probing the sensational case said on Friday.
A senior official in the Special Investigation Team also said the same weapon was used to shoot Lankesh, and rationalists Govind Pansare and M M Kalburgi.
"Waghmare shot Lankesh, and the forensic report has confirmed that (rationalists) Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Lankesh were murdered with the same weapon," a senior officer in the SIT said.
He, however, said the weapon was yet to be traced.
A forensic examination can lead to such a conclusion when the hammer of a gun has left identical marks at the rear of a bullet even if the weapon itself has not been found.
The official said the organisation, composed of people drawn from Hindu right groups, had around 60 members spread across at least five states but had no name.
"We discovered that this gang has a network in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. We did not find their Uttar Pradesh connection so far," the official said.
He said though it recruited people from hardline Hindutva organisations like Maharashtra-based Hindu Jagruti Samiti and Sanatan Sanstha, these outfits may not be directly responsible for the killings.
Both organisations had denied their role in the killing of the three.
Sujith Kumar alias Praveen used to recruit people for the gang, the official said, adding it was following his interrogation that the network was busted.
The SIT, he said, suspected three more were involved in the killing of Lankesh, who was shot dead at the entrance of her Bengaluru residence on September 5 last year, and a hunt was on for them.
Speculation was rife that Waghmare, whose physical appearance matched that of the man whose image was caught on the CCTV camera at Lankesh's home on the day of the killing, was her assassin.
The officer said the gang meticulously planned its operations before executing them. The entire process of reconnaissance, identifying the weaknesses of the targets and their elimination would take anywhere between 6 months and a year.
"The gang had almost reached the last phase of killing Prof K S Bhagawan (Kannada writer) when we nabbed them," the officer said.
The Karnataka police had uncovered the plot to kill Bhagwan recently, and it was during the interrogation of the four arrested accused that they grew suspicious about their involvement in Lankesh's killing.
Bhagwan had often angered the right-wing outfits with his writing and utterances against Hindu Gods. (with PTI inputs)
