Plot to kill KS Bhagwan: KT Naveen Kumar met other accused many times

Bengaluru: Hindu Yuva Sene founder K.T. Naveen Kumar, who was the first to be arrested in connection with journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh’s murder, held several rounds of meetings with the other arrested accused in the case, Sujeeth Kumar, Amol Kale, Amith Degvekar and Manohar Dundappa Yavade, in different parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra to discuss a plan to eliminate Mysuru-based rationalist and writer Prof. K.S. Bhagwan for his anti-Hindu views and criticism of Hindu Gods, states the second chargesheet filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the murder.

The 700-page chargesheet, with statements from over 150 witnesses, was submitted before the First ACMM Court judge recently. It describes the role of five of the seven arrested accused.

The chargesheet also contains reports from the Forensic Sciences Laboratory, corroborating the charges against Naveen Kumar, Sujeeth Kumar, Amol Kale, Amith Degvekar and Manohar Dundappa Yavade. It states that the accused procured arms and ammunition to carry out the job.

SIT stumbled upon conversation to kill Bhagwan
The chargesheet states that the SIT analysed over 100 call record details of the suspects from right wing organisations and stumbled upon a conversation where the plan to eliminate Prof Bhagwan for his “anti-Hindu views” and “criticism of Hindu gods” was being discussed.

The callers were hatching a plot similar to Guari’s to eliminate Prof. Bhagwan.

Naveen Kumar, who was caught with a country-made pistol and 15 rounds of live bullets at Majestic in Bengaluru in February this year, and other accused had procured the arms and ammunition from their contacts in Belagavi and stored them in one of the houses of their relative in Davangere, the chargesheet states.

The accused met at Gundal Forest Range in Chamarajanagar district in January this year and carried out target practice, it states.