Two years after editor-activist Gauri Lankesh was assassinated outside her house, 16 people have been arrested — all members of an unnamed organisation that targeted ‘durjans’ (Hindus who are anti-Hindu).
The Special Investigation Team had recovered a hitlist of 36 writers, thinkers and rationalists across the country, but despite the arrest of key members of the organisation, the threat perception has not gone away. “It has definitely decreased as most members of the organisation have been locked up, but it has not gone away completely. The ideological mentors of the module are not held to account, and two key men are still at large,” said a senior SIT official.
Ms. Lankesh’s murder was not an isolated incident, as the same group was allegedly responsible for the assasination of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, and M.M. Kalburgi. Two key accused, Rishikesh Deodikar alias Murali alias Shiva and Vikas Patil alias Nihal or Dada, have been named accused in the Gauri Lankesh chargesheet, but are still at large. “The duo acted as ideological mentors to several key accused, including Sujith Kumar and Manohar Edave who were recruiters for the module in Karnataka; and Sharad Kalaskar and Vasudev Suryavamshi, the key accused in all the four murders. Vikas Patil was also part of the operations team, probe indicates,” sources said.
The unnamed organisation was first led by Veerendra Tawde, an ENT surgeon from Pune until his arrest in June 2016 by the CBI for his role in the murder of Mr. Dabholkar. His arrest paved the way for Amol Kale, the prime accused in the Gauri Lankesh case, to take over the leadership.
According to senior police officials, there is a very real threat that Patil and Deodikar may rebuild the organisation. “It may take time and will be difficult, but it not entirely impossible. The strength of the module was its anonymity, which is now gone. Multiple agencies are searching for the duo. Diaries recovered from key accused in the Gauri case and probe by Maharashtra police and CBI have now revealed the names of over 200 people the module had recruited, in various stages of radicalisation and armed training. Agencies are now keeping a close tab on them as well,” a senior investigator said.
However, they said the fear was that the ideological mentors of the organisation may opt to change the modus operandi and work with an entirely new set of recruits.
Agencies in Karnataka, Maharashtra and the CBI are yet to locate two 7.65 mm country-made pistols used in the four murders.
They were reportedly dismantled and disposed at Vasai Creek in Mumbai on July 23, 2018.
“A company from the Middle East has been roped in to probe the river bed for the weapon parts. The firm will profile the bed up to a few hundred metres to check for the heavy iron object,” said an official.
The exercise is expected to cost over ₹1 crore. The Maharashtra and Karnataka governments have agreed to foot the bill in a 70:30 ratio. Work is expected to begin in the next 10 days, sources said. However, officers are unsure if this will yield any result. “There have been two monsoons since the weapon was disposed in the creek, the recent one even causing a flood,” an official said.