SIT quizzes people Gauri had critiqued

Gauri Lankesh (File)

Having recorded statements and views of dozens of people linked to slain journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, the special investigation team (SIT) is expected to question Prabhakar Kalladka, an RSS leader whom Lankesh had severely criticised in one of the recent editions of her tabloid, Gauri Lankesh Patrike. The SIT Monday quizzed a young man who was seen at a park near her home 30 minutes before the murder. The youth has reportedly told the police that he was there with a friend.

The SIT has questioned Lankesh’s family — mother Indira, sister Kavitha and brother Indrajit — and has spoken with employees at Patrike, journalists who knew her, several associates in the Forum for Communal Harmony which she started in 2002 to combat communalism. Several former Maoists, who were helped by Lankesh in returning to the mainstream, have also been questioned.

The SIT is going through past editions of the weekly to identify people she may have antagonised in the course of her work as a journalist. Among many people questioned in this connection are people associated with Ramachan-drapura Mutt of Raghaweshwar Bharati, against whom Lankesh published a series of articles after the seer was accused of rape by a singer at his ashram. After Lankesh’s death, the singer told police that the seer could have targeted the journalist for publishing articles against him.

With forensic tests of bullets indicating that the countrymade pistol used to kill Lankesh was of the same make as that used to shoot scholar M M Kalburgi in 2015, SIT is also quizzing local leaders of right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. The two outfits are suspected to be involved in the Kalburgi murder.