Gauri Lankesh's anti-Hindutva videos used to motivate Parshuram Waghmore

Bengaluru: In yet another revelation, a strong speech against Hindutva and Hindu fundamentalists delivered by journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh in Mangaluru is said to have been used to brainwash Parashuram Waghmore, the suspect shooter who pulled the trigger on Gauri on September 5, 2017 outside her residence in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

Waghmore, who was allegedly recruited by Sujeeth Kumar to eliminate Gauri, was first shown her speeches by another accused Amol Kale and made to read her posts against 'Hindus and Hindu gods' on social media platforms.

According to a source, the video besides various write-ups of Gauri were found in Kale's tablet. Waghmore was allegedly repeatedly shown a video in which Gauri, while addressing a mammoth crowd in Mangaluru, seeks to defeat fascist forces and Hindutva ideology, and appreciates 'Muslims and Dalits for gathering in thousands' against Hindutva.

Earlier, a diary maintained by Kale was also recovered which had revealed chilling details of 36 potential targets and over 50 shooters to carry out the task.

The contents of the diary are in a coded language which the police have decoded to find the details.

According to an SIT source, most of the identified targets were from Maharashtra and a few from Karnataka. All that the potential targets have in common is their strong views against Hindutva. The diary further revealed that Kale approached shooters during programmes organised by right-wing outfits in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.