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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News Network
January 25,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 25: Several women have completed a 24-hour protest here against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and are going strong to stretch it to 48 hours.

"More than a thousand women gathered on the Masjid Road at Frazer Town to denounce the CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC)," participant and Mount Carmel College student Noor Zahira told IANS.

The women protesters extended their support to the students in Jamia Millia Islamia, the Aligarh Muslim University, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and others who were recently roughed up allegedly by police and masked goons.

Zahira, 20, said the women's protest was planned only for 24 hours but is continuing to touch 48 hours.

Starting 3pm on Thursday, the women, several of them in burqas, niqabs and hijabs, are sitting on the road just outside the Haji Sait mosque in Frazer Town in a flash protest. Though they have informed the police, they did not wait for the permission. Around 11 pm, police arrived and shut off the protesters' loud speakers.

Zahira said already four such women's anti-CAA protests were taken out in Bengaluru. Women from all ages groups have joined the protest and are sloganeering.

As the women are protesting on the road, men are guarding them standing on the opposite road, ensuring all supplies such as food and others to them, she added.

"Muslim women were not alone in denouncing the CAA... we were joined by the transgenders, Hindu women, Christian women, Dalits and others, " she said.

Some of the protesters also indulged in creative work such as composing songs against the CAA and making placards.

Though four anti-CAA women's protests happened at the Town Hall and other landmarks in Bengaluru, they were only a few hours long.

The protesting women are also showing support to women protesters at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi who were accused of demonstrating for Rs 500. However, the protest did not align anti-CAA demonstration with any political party, keeping it apolitical.

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News Network
January 18,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 18: The Muslim Central Committee of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi has claimed that around 3 lakh people had gathered at Shah Gardan, Adyar-Kannur in Mangaluru on January 15, even though their expectation was just 1 lakh people.

The protest against CAA, NPR, NRC and police atrocities against minorities was jointly being organised by the various Muslim organisations of twin district under the leadership of Muslim Central Committee.

“We had just expected around 1 lakh people. But the Mangaluru witnessed the largest gathering in its history on Jan 15. Around 3 lakh people had participated in the protest,” Ibrahim Kodichail, vice president of the committee told media persons today.

K S Mohammed Masood, president of the committee, added that the event was a grand success and fretful, besides being peaceful. He wholeheartedly thanked all those who strived hard to make the protest a great success and to those who had taken part in it.

“At least 28 organisations have come together. As a result 3 lakh people assembled. I thank all those organisations,” he said.

He also opined that police too had helped to maintain law and order and cooperated with the protesters at the venue.

SM Rasheed Haji, B M Mumtaz Ali, Syed Ahmed Basha Thangal, Kasim Ahmed H K and Mansoor Ahmed Azad were present at the press meet among others.

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News Network
June 23,2020

Bengaluru, June 23: A frustrated chartered accountant has committed suicide after killing his wife and mother-in-law in two different cities of India.

The murder-murder-suicide came amid acrimonious divorce proceedings that might have also involved a property dispute, police said.

Amit flew to Bengaluru last weekend to kill his estranged wife at her Whitefield residence before returning to Kolkata, where he shot dead his mother-in-law and then killed himself at an upscale residential complex in North Kolkata on Monday evening.

Amit and his wife Shilpi Agarwal, who is also a CA, had been living separately since last the two years after their marriage turned sour.

Amit took his 10-year-old son from Bengaluru with him on Monday and dropped him at his uncle’s house before heading to his in-laws’ place Phoolbagan, police said.

Neighbours told cops they heard arguments “appeared to be” over some property documents that Amit wanted his in-laws — 70-year-old Subhas and 62-year-old Lalita Dhandhania — to sign.

The first gunshot was heard a little before 6.30pm, following which Subhas ran out of his flat, bolted the door from outside and took refuge inside his next-door neighbour’s apartment. Police arrived a few minutes later to find Amit and his mother-in-law dead. Police found a suicide note from the flat.

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