Gauri murder: 4 days on, SIT hunts for clues; saffronists likely to be questioned

coastaldigest.com news network
September 9, 2017

Bengaluru, Sept 9: Four days after journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her Rajarajeshwari Nagar house, no concrete leads have been found in the case.

On Friday, the government announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone providing information that would lead to arrests in the Gauri Lankesh murder case. The announcement came after home minister Ramalinga Reddy briefed CM about the status of the investigation.

It's not difficult to see why the police are desperate for clues. Every evidence that the police were banking on (CCTV footage of house; of cameras along the way from Gauri's Gandhi Bazaar office to RR Nagar home) has nearly hit a dead-end.

New angles have emerged after the special investigation team (SIT) pored over the CCTV footage once again on Friday, but there's hardly anything to pursue.

Some videos are doing the rounds of social media (showing "recreation of the crime scene") but the police have advised people not to fall for such fake videos. What the actual footage shows is this:

* Gauri Lankesh arrives at her RR Nagar house at 8.09 pm on Tuesday (the actual time was 8.26 pm; police say there was some technical error in the CCTV setup at Gauri's house).

* She parks her car right outside her gate and switches off the headlights. She sits in the car for two minutes (police don't really know why).

* She then steps out, swings open the iron gate; she takes two steps holding the right portion of the gate.

* Just then, a light flashes on her car (the arrival of the killer on a bike since it's a single head lamp). The bike is parked exactly behind the car (the killer probably knew that Gauri had installed CCTV cameras; this is why he took pains to hide his identity and that of his bike)

* The killer then walks up to Gauri and she turns towards him (police believe he might have addressed her)

* He then fires at her abdomen on the left; he can be seen within stabbing distance of Gauri in the CCTV footage. He fires another three shots

* Gauri loses her balance (perhaps due to the bullet injuries) and starts walking backwards (prelude to collapsing)

* The killer then fires at her chest (the post-mortem later revealed that the bullet pierced through her heart causing instant death)

The pot-bellied killer is actually wearing a backpack on the front side (to throw police off track; he doesn't remove his helmet either). As soon as Gauri collapses, he escapes. After 30 seconds, another head lamp shines on the car. Police believe the killer backed up his two-wheeler and then accelerated which is why there is a 30-second lag; they are sure that there was only one killer on one bike (and not three killers as local residents reported earlier).

However, experts say that it will be difficult to draw a sketch of the killer from the grainy footage as he did a good job of hiding his identity.

The other clue that police were banking on - CCTV footage from cameras along Gauri's route - has also turned out to be a damp squib. Gauri did not take the route that is dotted with CCTV cameras. Instead, she weaved through smaller lanes to avoid traffic. Unfortunately, there are hardly any cameras along these lanes.

The police are now hoping for a miracle - maybe some resident or shopkeeper may turn over crucial footage that could be trapped in their cameras. From her Gandhi Bazaar office, Gauri passed through Dodda Ganapathi Temple; then she headed towards Giri Nagar via Hanumanth Nagar; then she reached Muneshwara Block and then reached close to Mysor Road; then she took another inner lane and emerged close to her house, avoiding the traffic at Rajarajeshwari Nagar Arch.

The police traced her route through various tower locations as her cell phone was active as she was driving. According to a senior officer, the weapon used in the murder is either of Indian or foreign make and not a country-made one as thought earlier."We are awaiting the final forensic report on the weapon," the officer said. The SIT officers have drawn up a list of seven suspects including saffron activists whom they plan to question soon. 

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ahmed
 - 
Monday, 11 Sep 2017

RSS MIND KILLER Trained in RSS byteck its preplanned by chaddi company...may bhat know tiz skech

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Agencies
January 24,2020

Indore, Jan 24: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Thursday said that he suspected that there were some Bangladeshis among construction labourers who worked at his house recently.

Their “strange” eating habits aroused suspicion about their nationality, the BJP general secretary said at a seminar in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) here.

When a new room was being added at his house recently, he found “eating habits” of some of the workers “strange” as “they were eating only `poha’ (flattened rice)”, he said.

After talking to their supervisor and the building contractor, he suspected that these workers were from Bangladesh, the BJP leader said.

When reporters questioned him later, Vijayvargiya said, “I suspected these workers were residents of Bangladesh. Two days after I became suspicious, they stopped working at my house. I have not filed any police complaint yet. I only mentioned this incident to warn people,” he said.

Speaking at the seminar, Vijayvargiya also claimed that a Bangladeshi terrorist was keeping a watch on him for the last one and a half years.

“Whenever I go out, six armed security personnel follow me. What is happening in this country? Will outside people enter and spread so much terror?” he asked.

“Don’t get confused by rumours. The CAA is in the interest of the country. This law will provide asylum to genuine refugees and identify intruders who are a threat to the country’s internal security,” he added.

Comments

Well Wisher
 - 
Sunday, 26 Jan 2020

Koopa Mandooka. illeterates. Do not bother about them.

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News Network
May 26,2020

Bengaluru, May 26: The Karnataka high court has rejected bail to a software engineer who was arrested after his sarcastic Facebook post urged people to spread coronavirus by sneezing in public over two months ago.

Mujeeb Mohammed was sacked by Infosys from the post of senior software engineer after his arrest on March 29.

Justice KS Mudagal observed the investigating officer's report and the case diary prima facie show though Mujeeb was well educated and employed, he uploaded messages which are likely to cause disharmony and panic, and are hostile to humanity at a time when the world is facing the pandemic.

The judge noted that the records indicate Mujeeb has six bank accounts, stayed in Bahrain and Kuwait for some years, was influenced by religious fanatics and anti-national ideas and that he had shared a Pakistan WhatsApp number to someone over information about Islam. The National Investigation Agency is probing his links.

Mujeeb, who is in judicial custody now, has been booked under sections 153A, 505, 270 and 109 of IPC.

His counsel submitted the maximum punishment under 153 A of IPC (causing enmity) would be three years and for other offences, it's even less. He also stated the petitioner would abide by the conditions to be imposed by the court.

However, the government pleader said probe provided leads on the petitioner's links with unorganised terrorist groups and it has to be investigated further.

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News Network
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jun 4: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response from Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, on a plea challenging his election in 2019 from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency as a joint candidate of the Janata Dal Secular and the Congress.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and Hrishiksh Roy issued notice to the returned candidate from the high-profile constituency on an appeal challenging the Karnataka High Court's order by which an election petition against his win was dismissed.

In the proceedings held through video-conferencing, the top court issued notice and tagged the appeal filed by G Devarajegowda for hearing with other similar pending plea filed by the BJP candidate on the issue.

Mr Devarajegowda in the plea said that his election petition was dismissed by the High Court on "procedural irregularities". The plea said that Mr Prajwal had resorted to unfair and corrupt practices and his election should be set aside.

It said the High Court did not consider the fact that by dismissing the election petition, it was running a risk of having a representative in parliament who has not got the maximum number of valid votes.

The petitioner, an advocate by profession, sought a declaration of rival BJP candidate, A Manju, as the winner for having secured the maximum number of valid votes.

A separate appeal was earlier filed by Mr Manju against the High Court order and the top court had already issued notice to the retuned candidate on that.

Mr Manju had challenged the 2019 election of Mr Prajwal on the ground that there was allegedly non-disclosure of assets held by him in his election affidavit.

Mr Prajwal was declared winner with 6,76,606 votes. Mr Manju came first runner-up with 5,35,282 votes.

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