Ten days after the Karnataka special investigation team (SIT) probing the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh claimed to have filed an additional charge-sheet in the case, the Goa-based Sanatan Sanstha has accused the SIT of trying to tarnish its image.
Dubbing the SIT's press release (issued on November 24) announcing the filing of the 9,500-page additional charge-sheet before the special court as “ridiculous”, the national spokesperson of the Sanatan Sanstha, Chetan Rajhans, accused the SIT of being party to a larger conspiracy to implicate the Sanstha in a “Malegaon-type” (saffron terror) case.
Taking strong objection to the SIT citing that Gauri Lankesh murder had been committed by persons inspired by Kshatra Dharma Sadhana, a book published by the Sanatan Sanstha, Rajhans charged that the charge-sheet was nothing but a script jointly written by the Karnataka SIT and CBI in Maharashtra.
“The book was published by Sanatan Sanstha 15 years ago and is out of print today due to no demand. Blaming the book only shows how low the investigating agencies can stoop to implicate Sanatan Sanstha. SIT has unlawfully arrested innocent devout Hindus. They are denying the accused judicial assistance,” Rajhans told a press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
“The SIT has also spread false information that the accused were in possession of a hit-list. When it yielded little, they tried to lure one of the accused, Parashuram Waghmore, with Rs 25 lakh to name Sanatan Sanstha. The latest ploy is to make false propaganda against the Sanstha by claiming that the killings were due to the book published by us. Since 1995, thousands of copies of Kshatra Dharma Sadhana have been sold. Now, how many people have been killed?” asked Rajhans.
Rajhans also demanded to know which holy texts were being read by jihadis who are spreading terrorism across the world? “Will SIT explain which holy text was read by the activists of Popular Front of India, who are involved in the killings of 23 devout Hindus in Karnataka?” he asked.
Interestingly, the SIT stated that the additional charge-sheet was submitted to the special court on November 23 and that the investigation was now focused on tracking the accused who were absconding and the material objects used to commit the crime. It also stated that all the 18 accused in the case were active members of an organised crime syndicate formed in 2010-2011 under the leadership of Dr Virendra Tawade alias Bade Bhaisaab, but stopped short of naming any organisation.
N.P. Amrutesh, vice-president of Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, the counsels for the accused, said, "SIT claims that the killers were inspired by the book Kshatra Dharma Sadhana are laughable. The investigating agencies are busy exchanging the accused for interrogation as they have been unable to prove anything. Normally, the investigating agency has to file a charge-sheet within 90 days after the arrest of the accused. In this case, the SIT could not file a charge-sheet. So, they booked the accused under Karnataka COCA, only to buy time, as KCOCA allows a period of 180 days to file a charge-sheet.”
“Moreover, the SIT has not technically submitted any charge-sheet to the court. In fact, the 9,500-page charge-sheet is a sham. It is a film script prepared by Karnataka SIT and CBI. They are cooking up stories to target innocent Hindus. This is a single point agenda—of tarnishing the image of Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janajagruthi Samiti,” alleged Amrutesh, adding that the charge-sheet was only a film script that cannot be substantiated with evidence.
The Sanstha representatives insisted that the organisation had no Hindu activists as members, but it had only spiritual seekers. “Amol Kale, who has been named as main accused in the Gauri Lankesh case by the SIT, has not been in contact with the Samiti for the last 10 years or held any post of office-bearer. All the accused are assumed to be activists of the Samiti. This smacks of a conspiracy. Even the members of the Abid Pasha gang (having links with Popular Front of India),who proved guilty of killing Hindu leaders, were not slapped with KCOCA and the police helped them secure bail,” said Ramesh Shinde, national spokesperson of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.
“But the Hindu activists arrested in the Gauri Lankesh case have been booked under KCOCA though none have any criminal background. This clearly shows that the Karnataka government is favouring the jihadis and selectively subjecting the accused Hindu activists to unfair treatment. This is part of the Congress conspiracy to malign the Hindu organisations.”
What the SIT charge-sheet says
In the charge-sheet, the SIT states that all the 18 accused in the case were active members of an organised crime syndicate formed in 2010-2011 under the leadership of Dr Virendra Tawade alias Bade Bhaisaab. A former editor of Sanatan Prabhat provided financial support to this syndicate. The members of the syndicate targeted persons who they identified as inimical to their belief and ideology. The members strictly followed the guidelines and principles mentioned in the book Kshatra Dharma Sadhana, published by Sanatan Sanstha. After Tawade was arrested in 2016 for his involvement in the murder of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, the leadership was taken over by Amol Kale.
The SIT also mentioned that the important members of the syndicate included Amit Degvekar, Vikas Patil (alias Dada) and Rushikesh Deodikar (alias Murali). Vikas Patil had recruited Sujith Kumar (alias Praveen) and Manohar Edave (alias Manoj) to carry out recruitment of members in Karnataka. The shooter, Parashuram Waghmore, was recruited by Sujith Kumar, who also recruited many others including K.T. Naveen Kumar. Edave recruited Ganesh Miskin and Amit Baddi. As a norm, persons with a history of aggression and violence were recruited as members.
The members met, conspired and got trained at various places in Karnataka and Maharashtra. They were in constant touch with each another and took active measures to hide their identities. They always used nicknames/assumed names and separate phones (other than their personal mobile phones) for the syndicate activities. They were indoctrinated and actively underwent arms training and shooting practice and were trained in the manufacture and use of bombs with the intention of promoting insurgency and creating fear in society.
In August 2016, during a meeting of the syndicate, the main members identified Lankesh as a “Durjan” as defined in Kshatra Dharma Sadhana, based on her speeches and writings. They jointly hatched a conspiracy to murder Lankesh, states the charge-sheet.
However, Rajhans rubbishes such claims.
“We heard about Gauri Lankesh only after her death; Sanstha does not preach violence. We abide by the Constitution and law. There is nothing provocative in the book and it is freely available for anybody to read. It has become a tendency to blame Hindu organisations. Today, it is the Sanstha; tomorrow, it could be RSS, VHP or Sri Rama Sene. The leftist mafia is trying to target Hindu organisations and dub them as extremists, though their earlier efforts in Malegaon failed,” says Rajhans.
