The Special Investigation Team probing the murder of Gauri Lankesh, who was shot with a 7.56 mm country-made pistol two months ago, have yet to match the cartridges from the crime scene with those used to kill rationalist and academic M.M. Kalburgi in August 2015.
Though a similar pistol was used to murder Kalburgi, SIT officials said a comparative ballistic analysis at this juncture of the investigation is not required as they are closing in on the people behind Gauri’s murder.
“We have sought the custody of the cartridges in the Kalburgi case for a comparative analysis, but for the moment, this is not our priority as we have some vital clues on the suspects,” a senior police officer with the SIT team said. “Teams have been dispatched to track down the suspects, who are on the run. They are changing locations but the hunt is on,” he added.
No results on sketches
However, the sketches that the SIT had released of two suspects have not yielded any results.
“Instead, we have received comments and jokes about the sketches,” the officer said, admitting that the phone line set up for the public to call in with information has been of little help. “We have received over 500 calls, but most were from people seeking information on the probe. Many also shared their opinion of the sketches we had released pointing to apparent flaws in them,” he added.
Vedike to decide
on further action
Members of the Gauri Lankesh Hatya Virodhi Horata Vedike — a platform formed by a group of writers and thinkers in the aftermath of her killing — have criticised the State government and SIT for failing to nab the killers.
“The SIT probe has led to no results, which is frustrating,” said K Neela, convenor of the vedike, which will be meeting on Sunday to discuss the next course of action and the modalities of the protests.