Gauri Lankesh murder case: Witness threatened, says special public prosecutor

BENGALURU: The trial in the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh took an interesting turn on Tuesday when special public prosecutor S Balan submitted that a witness who was to depose against Parashuram Waghmore, the alleged shooter in the case, was threatened.
In the afternoon, Balan told the special court for Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA) that the witness - Daulat Hipparagi from Sindagi in North Karnataka and who works in a private shop as an assistant - was threatened by four unidentified men in Sindagi on Monday morning, hours before Hipparagi started his journey to Bengaluru.
"Also, on Tuesday, when Hipparagi was present on the court premises, he received a call on his mobile phone from an unknown number and the person on the other side warned him not to say anything against Waghmore," Balan said.
In his mid 30s, Hipparagi was called to the court to identify accused Waghmore. Both Hipparagi and Waghmore are into body building. The hobby earned Waghmore the nickname 'Builder', which is repeatedly mentioned in the chargesheet. According to police, Waghmore was addressed as Builder by the other accused.
When special judge Ramachandra Huddar called Hipparagi to the witness box and asked him twice about the threat calls, saying he should not fear, he denied the submission made by Balan, saying: "No one has threatened me."
Earlier in the morning session, Hipparagi identified Waghmore through video conferencing as his friend and body builder like him. However, Hipparagi said he was not aware that Waghmore was called Builder. Waghmore is lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison with some other accused, while a few accused are stationed in other prisons, including Yerawada in Pune.
Earlier last week, the doctor who conducted the autopsy of Gauri had deposed that she had died of shock and haemorrhage. Dr S Venkata Raghav, 50, of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, said he carried out the postmortem between 10am and noon of September 6, 2017.
"I am of the opinion that death was due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of firearm injuries in the chest and abdomen," Dr Raghav said. According to police investigation, the accused had fired a few rounds at Gauri. While three had entered her stomach and chest, four missed the target.