Three days after journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh (55) was shot dead by unidentified assailants in front of her residence in Bengaluru, the special investigation team (SIT) set up by the Siddaramaiah government to probe the murder has made little headway. While the ghastly act has triggered a shouting match between the Leftist and Right-wing activists, each accusing the other of trying to "muzzle" the voices of dissent, conspiracy theories are brewing cynicism and outrage among the people.
Even as the social media warriors and political blamegame are claiming (sans any evidence) that the murder is a fallout of Lankesh's anti-Hindutva stand, a counter narrative suspects she was targeted by the Naxals for her role in the surrender and mainstreaming of the Naxals in Karnataka.
A day after the SIT, headed by IGP (ntelligence) B.K. Singh widely publicised a phone number (09480800202) and an email id (sit.glankesh@ksp.gov.in) for people to pass on any information related to the case in confidentiality, Siddaramaiah, who held a meeting of the investigation team on Friday, announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh to any person who can give any information regarding the case.
The probe, however, has revealed little. In the absence of vital leads, the Lankesh family is growing impatient and has demanded a speedy investigation stating they do not want a repeat of rationalist M.M. Kalburgi's murder case, where the investigation agency is still clueless about the killers even after two years. Her younger brother Indrajit Lankesh, who had demanded a CBI probe earlier claiming he did not trust the SIT, said he would wait for a few days before considering the option (CBI), when he held a joint press conference along with his elder sister Kavita.
The SIT, which is busy examining the CCTV footages from the slain activist's house, has just about managed to figure out vague details as they have not been able to ascertain the number of assailants, as the footage only shows a man wearing a helmet and a jacket firing at the journalist, killing her on the spot. While more than seven bullets were sprayed at her, the autopsy report suggests that four bullets pierced through her chest and the one that hit her heart proved fatal. The team is corroborating footages accessed from CCTVs installed along the route to her home from office, the road she took for one last time on September 5. Apart from the ballistic examination, and scanning of the call records on the victim's mobile phone, data stored in her laptop, the team is also sifting through the old articles published in her weekly, for potential leads.
With the social media war turning ugly, Union Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad finally stepped in and threw tough questions at the Karnataka government. “Did the Siddaramaiah government authorise Gauri Lankesh to work on Naxal surrender? If yes, why was she not provided any security? In fact, the journalist's brother (Indrajit) too has admitted there were threats to her life from Naxals,” said Prasad, who also hit back at AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi who blamed "radical Hindus" for the murder.
“Why is he blaming the Sangh Parivar without any proof. Will Karnataka CM answer why the Kalburgi murder case has not been solved? Why are they silent over killings of RSS men,” said Prasad, calling it “hypocrisy” of the Congress.
Indrajit Lankesh had stated that his sister used to get hate mails and he had information that some people had even distributed pamphlets in the Western Ghats region expressing their ire over Lankesh's efforts to mainstream Naxals.
JD(S) state president H.D. Kumaraswamy came out in support of Prasad stating that the “Centre does not make baseless allegations and always have credible information. So, the state government should probe the Naxal angle too,” said Kumarswamy, who also raised doubts over the sincerity of the investigating team.
“Even after three days, the SIT is busy watching CCTV. Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy should clarify if he the decision to form the SIT was taken with his knowledge or only Kempaiah (advisor to home minister and close aide of CM) was consulted on the issue. In fact, how can you expect any fair probe from an SIT headed by an officer who is tainted in the gold heist case. He had recovered 7.5 kilos of gold but declared only 50 per cent as he sold the rest and purchased land in Banaswadi,” alleged Kumaraswamy, referring to the SIT chief.
