Bengaluru: The Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is Investigating the murder case of editor-activist Gauri Lankesh on Wednesday took over the probe in the assassination of noted Kannada litterateur and former vice chancellor of Hampi University M.M. Kalburgi under direction from the Supreme Court.
Prof Kalburgi was shot dead by two unknown bike borne assailants at the entrance of his house in Dharwad on August 30, 2015. The SIT probe will be monitored by the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka High Court.
The apex court last week while hearing the plea of late scholar’s wife Uma Devi had transferred the Kalburgi murder case from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to SIT. Uma Devi had requested the SC to transfer her husband’s murder case to the SIT, which in November last year had submitted the chargesheet against 18 people in the Gauri murder case under the stringent provisions of Karnataka Control of Crime Act (KCOCA). Sixteen of them have been arrested and are in judicial custody.
The SIT had stated that the Gauri murder was an act of ‘organised crime’, which was carried out by those associated
with the Sanatan Sanstha. The CID had arrested three accused - Amol Kale, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Muslim in the Kalburgi case. The three are under arrest in Gauri case.
There are strong similarities in both the murder cases and the Forensic Science Laboratory, Bengaluru in the ballistic reports had stated that the same weapon - a contraband 7.65mm pistol was used in silencing Kalburgi and Gauri.
