SIT recreates recce scene, suspect made to ride bike near Gauri’s home

BENGALURU: A suspect in the Gauri Lankesh murder case was on Monday made to ride a bike donning a full-face helmet near the slain journalist’s house to verify whether he was the same person in the CCTV images of recce conducted by the killers.
Naveen Kumar, 38, resident of Maddur and leader of Hindu Yuva Sena, is under the custody of the Special Investigation Team (SIT).


It is suspected that Naveen provided logistics to the killer by conducting a recce on September 3 and 5 last year. Gauri was gunned down in front of her house in RR Nagar, southwest Bengaluru, on September 5.

CCTV images obtained from the house premises show a man riding a red-black Bajaj Pulsar bike and wearing a full-face helmet while conducting the recce. The man in the video is wearing a white full-arm shirt, black pants and dark sandals. “Naveen was made to wear a similar shirt and fullface helmet. He was asked to ride near Gauri’s residence and other places where the suspect in the video had rode,” sources said.

Earlier, SIT had got Naveen to ride the bike in its custody. Those videos and images have been sent to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory for analysis. “We’ve now taken pictures and videos of Naveen riding the two-wheeler near Gauri’s house and will send them to FSL seeking its opinion,” sources added.

According to officials, FSL will take at least one month to ascertain the similarities between Naveen and the man in the picture. “Our team that visited Mangaluru to hunt down the people with whom Naveen was in touch hasn’t met with success till now. The phone numbers which Naveen Kumar called are switched off. The names and addresses of the men who had purchased the sim cards are fake,” sources said.

Naveen was arrested by CCB police on February 18, and 15 live bullets were recovered from him. Naveen was taken into SIT custody on March 2 for his suspected role in the murder.