In his 12-page confession before the police, K.T. Naveen Kumar has detailed how he was dragged first into the conspiracy to kill Gauri Lankesh and later to kill Mysuru-based rationalist K.S. Bhagavan, which was averted by his subsequent arrest. The Hindu has accessed a copy of the statement redacted by SIT in the chargesheet made public.
The confession statement is unlikely to be of any evidential value during the trial, sources said.
The statement alleges he participated in a meeting of Hindu activists organised by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti in Ponda, Goa where he made a speech that Hindus must take up arms. “Mohan Gowda praised me a lot to which I said I had a weapon and bullets for the purpose. Mohan Gowda told me there were others who thought alike and they would contact me. Later a person who identified as Praveen called me giving me the reference of Mohan Gowda,” his statement said. He later goes on to narrate how Praveen involved him in the conspiracy to first kill Gauri and after the hit asked him to prepare to attack Prof. Bhagavan. Naveen confesses to giving Praveen the bullets he had in his possession.
However, the chargesheet does not name Hindu Janajagruti Samiti as an accused.