Nearly a month after journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead in an audacious attack in Bengaluru, Karnataka minister Ramalinga Reddy has claimed that the SIT probing the incident has identified the killers.
The home minister, however, refused to divulge further details, saying the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was gathering evidence.
"We have got clues, but we cannot tell things to the media for now because we should have correct evidence for the clues we have got," he said.
"If there is no proper evidence when we file the charge sheet in the court, it won't stand. So we are trying to collect the evidence properly. We know who has done it (the killing) and what.... everything we know," Reddy told reporters at Chikkaballapur, on Sunday.
Gauri Lankesh, known to be an anti-establishment voice with strident anti-right wing views, was shot dead at close range by unknown assailants at her home in Bengaluru on the night of September 5.
The killing had led to national outrage and protests by several groups over "rising intolerance" in the country and attempts to muzzle dissent with the criticism targeted at the Modi government and right wing groups.
Reddy had on September 9 made similar claims about the SIT having gathered "some clues" in connection with the case.
The Karnataka government, which constituted the SIT headed by IGP (Intelligence) B.K. Singh, has also announced Rs 10 lakh reward for anyone giving clues about the perpetrators of the crime.
As the killing also gave way to a political slug fest, Gauri's family had made a plea against giving political colour to it.
The family had said the investigators should look into all angles in the case, as reports had emerged about a possible naxal hand in the crime other than the suspected involvement of right wing extremists.
