BENGALURU: As chants of ‘Amar Rahe Amar Rahe, Gauri Lankesh Amar Rahe’ (Long Live Long Live, Gauri Lankesh Long Live), rang out and the mortal remains of the slain journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh (55) were lowered into the grave with police honours at the T.R. Mill Lingayat burial ground in Chamarajpet in Bengaluru on Wednesday evening, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the case began to reconstruct the entire incident to get more clarity about the murder.
The journalist and editor of Gauri Lankesh Patrike, was shot and killed at point blank range by unidentified men on Tuesday evening at her residence in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru west.
The examination of the scene of crime, where the journalist and activist died, has revealed that the assailant shot 14 bullets at her and not seven or four as originally reported. In her last moments, as her killer came up to the gate that she had just unlocked and shot at her, Gauri ran screaming and ducked for cover behind a four feet wall as she attempted to run into her home. Of the 14 bullets that were fired at her, three hit their target.
The forensic and ballistic experts, who examined the crime scene through Tuesday and Wednesday have collected the shell casings from the 14 bullets that were fired from the country-made pistol by the killer. “Ms. Lankesh stops the car, enters through the gate and will head towards the main door to open it. Meanwhile, the killer wearing jacket and helmet enters through the gate. Noticing him, Ms. Lankesh turn towards him and while she is about to enquire from him what he wnats, the killer takes out a pistol from his bag and opens fire at her. In her bid to escape, she falls down. The killer moves a few steps further and gets close to her. As she tries to get up, he shoots two more rounds at her and she collapses. As he leaves the compound, he turns back and again fires one more bullet at her,” an official told this newspaper, basing his startling revelations on Gauri Lankesh's sad death as seen on the CCTV footage.
"The first 11 bullets missed the target and hit the wall and pots," he said, "but the last three did not."
As part of the probe, the police have reportedly taken into custody, 36 Digital Video Recorders ( DVRs) from various establishments that are linked to CCTV, all along the route Ms. Lankesh took on Tuesday.
