BENGALURU: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) officials probing the murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh have strongly denied media reports that they had sent the CCTV footage to a forensic science laboratory abroad to enhance the killer's facial features.
Instead, they said, that the images were captured after the team spent hours scouring through footage taken from every CCTV camera they could lay their hands on.
"That we have sent the CCTV footage abroad is untrue," a senior SIT official told Deccan Chronicle, while admitting their disappointment however that instead of the "good leads" they were expecting about the assailants after they released three sketches of two suspects on Saturday, they were ‘frustrated’ as virtually all the callers were questioning the officials on how they came up with the sketches, especially the one with the ‘tilak’ on his forehead.
An officer revealed how the callers were using the SIT provided mobile phone number and an email ID that had been made available to the public. The SIT had requested the public to share information about the suspects, if they had any through these contacts.
However, much to the SIT’s discomfiture, of the more than 250 people who called the SIT, in addition to the 50 who have sent email to the ID given by the SIT, none have provided any information.
A senior police official in the SIT told DC that the very intention behind releasing the sketches would stand defeated if the pattern continues.
“We release photos, videos and sketches to the public in the hope that they can help us in the investigation. But in this case, people are calling us to know how we prepared the sketches. Mirroring what’s happening in the social media about the suspect having tilak on his face, some callers are questioning us on what basis we have come up with the sketch, asking us if anyone saw the suspect having tilak, and what is the intention behind such a sketch? We don't understand why this is happening. It's unfortunate that people are questioning us instead of trying to help us in catching the assailants,” the official said.
Getting unwanted calls is not new to the SIT, as in the beginning of the probe itself people were calling the officials and were ‘guiding’ them on how to investigate the case, when the police had sought information from the public about
