SIT reconstructs Gauri Lankesh murder crime scene with Waghmore at her residence

Bengaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh took her alleged killer Parashuram Waghmore to the deceased’s house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on Friday night and reconstructed the crime scene after he was brought to the city on Friday.

The SIT which is close to solving the sensational murder of Gauri, after nine months of investigation, took Waghmore at around 8 pm, the time she was shot dead on September 5, 2017, and reconstructed the scene with Waghmore.

According to a SIT source Waghmore was asked to ride a bike through the streets in and around Gauri’s house and do it the same way as he did while carrying out a recce of the area, before carrying out the assassination.

“We made him take the exact route which he took to reach Gauri’s house and escape after opening fire at her. We also asked him to ride through the routes which he used to recce the area,” the source said.

The officials, after referring to the forensic reports and matching the killer’s description given in the report with Waghmore, said that the height and physical appearance of the person who pulled the trigger matches with him.

The SIT took Waghmore to different places in Belagavi and Sindagi after he allegedly revealed to the interrogators the places where he practiced shooting and met other accused and also to check on his previous activities involving Hindutva agenda.

“We had earlier matched Waghmore’s height with the accused who was captured in the CCTV camera pulling the trigger. As he is a strong suspect and believed to be present when Gauri was killed, he was taken to the crime scene and the act was reconstructed to get accurate details,” a SIT source said.

Meanwhile, the 5th Sessions court dismissed a petition filed by the accused in which they had stated that the police were not allowing them to meet their lawyer and visitors.

The accused’s lawyer Amrutesh argued that it was a contempt of court that the SIT was not allowing anyone, including him, to meet his clients to get the required information about the case.

Amrutesh had submitted that he was not allowed to meet his clients on regular basis and his request to meet all the clients at once was also turned down by the SIT.

The SIT officials had told the court that it was not possible as the investigation was underway and they were travelling with the accused to different places as part of the investigation.