SIT seeks court not to give custody of Gauri Lankesh killers to any other agency

Bengaluru: To ensure that the probe in the journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh murder case reaches its logical end, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has requested the court to not remand the accused in the case to any other investigating agency.

According to a source, the officials have submitted the request to the court not to give the custody of accused to any other investigative agency as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Maharashtra SIT and the Karnataka CID could move the court seeking the police custody of the accused as the case seems to have links with murders of other anti-Hindutva activists.

The CBI is probing the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, while the Maharashtra SIT is investigating Govind Pansare’s killing. Researcher and scholar Dr M.M. Kalburgi’s murder is being probed by the Karnataka CID. The SIT officials believe that the major part of the puzzle has been solved and they are very close to completing the probe.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the teams have left for Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in search of the murder weapon with which Ms Lankesh was shot. But officials refused to confirm it.

The SIT got a major breakthrough when it arrested Parshuram Waghmare, who pulled the trigger on Gauri on September 5 last year. Parshuram’s father Ashok, who was in the city to meet his son, left for Vijayapura on Sunday morning. Ashok said that he was happy to see his son and he thanked the police for allowing it.

On Monday, the City Civil and Sessions court will hear the bail application filed by the accused-gunrunner K.T. Naveen Kumar, the first person to be arrested in connection with Gauri’s murder.