Former Naxal leaders Sirimane Nagaraj and Noor Sridhar have denied the possibility of the role of left-wing extremists (Naxals) in Gauri Lankesh’s murder.
They said that Naxalites were being blamed to “bury the truth”. “Since all suspicions point towards the Hindu right-wing, investigation should begin from them,” they said.
At a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Sridhar said that there was no enmity between Gauri Lankesh and Naxals as suspected by some people. “The CPI (Maoist) is not a mafia. Whenever they have killed someone in the past, they have left a poster owning responsibility and even mentioning the reason for the act,” he said, pointing to differences in the modus operandi.
Mr. Sridhar said it was unfortunate that Vikram Gowda, an alleged member of the Naxal movement, was being falsely accused of the killing by a section of media. He said that the forces that are celebrating the killing of Gauri Lankesh should be probed for their role.