Sanatan Sanstha killed Gauri Lankesh: SIT

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has been investigating the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, held Santhan Santan, a Hindu right-wing outfit responsible and named in its additional chargesheet filed before a city court in Bengaluru.

The probe team have submitted the 9,235-page charge sheet in the Principal Civil and Sessions court on Friday. The charge sheet stated that a network within Sanatan Sanstha targeted journalist Lankesh for no personal reasons.

The SIT also revealed that the planning to kill Gauri Lankesh took five years.  “The killer and the killed have no personal or any other enmity. Why she was killed? Because she believed in the certain ideology, she wrote and spoke on that. So, it must be an ideology and it must be an organisation,” Special Public Prosecutor S Balan told PTI.

According to reports, the investigation team has sought permission to investigate the case further.  However, the first charge sheet in the sensational case was filed in May last.

Lankesh (55) known for her left-leaning and strong anti-Hindutva views was shot dead in front of her house in Bengaluru on September 5 last year, which triggered a nationwide outrage.

Following the incident, the then Siddaramaiah-led government constituted the SIT to probe into the killing.

As of now, 18 people have been accused in the crime, including shooter Parashuram Waghmare, masterminds Amol Kale, Sujith Kumar alias Praveen and Amit Degwekar, SIT sources told PTI.

The gang is suspected to be involved in the killing of three other rationalists MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.

Also read: Narendra Dhabolkar murder case: CBI takes Amol Kale in custody in Gauri Lankesh murder case