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. 

Comments

ahmed
 - 
Monday, 11 Sep 2017

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

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 10,2020

Karwar: The number of Covid-19 patients in Uttara Kannada district has gone up to 39 with seven more persons from Bhatkal testing positive for the virus on Sunday.

These seven persons include five men and two women. Among them, the youngest is 15 years and the eldest is 60 years. Rest of the patients are 50, 21, 16, 42, and 31 years old, a health bulletin said. All the new seven cases are contacts of the eight persons who were found positive on Saturday.

Of the new cases, one is an auto-rickshaw driver who had reportedly transported one of the patients. Now the administration is collecting the details of the driver’s journeys and the persons who had travelled in his auto-rickshaw. It is said that some of these persons who were confirmed positive on Sunday had travelled to Udupi and moved around in Bhatkal town to buy medicine.

The pressure on the administration is increasing with new positive cases being detected in Bhatkal town every day. After the first 11 cases, there were no new cases for 20 days. However, since Friday, there is sudden spike in the number of new cases in Bhatkal town.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
coastaldigest.com news network
July 24,2020

Mangaluru, July 24: Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district reported 8 new Covid-19 deaths in the last two days taking the toll to over 100. The district has recorded 107 Covid-19 deaths till now.

Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh on Friday said a 44-year-old man from Mangaluru with the symptoms of respiratory failure, ARDS, AKI MODS hypertension, was admitted to a private hospital on July 19 and died on July 22. His throat swab tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

Another 56-year-old man from Mangaluru, who died on July 23, was suffering from urinary tract infection, MODS-septic shock, type II diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, systematic hypertension and IHD and had tested positive for Covid-19.

Mangaluru saw two more deaths -- a 75-year-old woman suffering from COPD with type 2 respiratory failure and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome with septic shock and a 65-year-old woman, who was suffering from BP and diabetes and admitted to a private hospital on July 13 and died on July 23.

A 61-year-old woman from Puttur, who was suffering from diabetes mellitus and hypertension and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital, died on July 23.

A 67-year-old man from Bhadravathi in Shivamogga, who was admitted to Wenlock Hospital on July 13 and was suffering from pneumonia and respiratory infection, died on July 23. He too tested positive for Covid-19.

Some of the other deaths were those of -- a 42-year-old man from Bantwal suffering from type 1 respiratory failure, urosepsis and uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and a 67-year-old man from Bhadravathi suffering from acute myocardial infarction, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and systematic hypertension, Both died at private hospitals on July 23.

180 fresh cases

The Covid-19 graph slightly moved downward with the recording of 180 fresh cases, including four police personnel from Puttur police station. Of the positive cases, 56 are the primary contacts of the infected persons, 68 are suffering from Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and 10 with the symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

The contacts of 45 persons who tested positive are being traced. One person with international travel history has also tested positive.

A total of 125 persons recovered and were discharged from hospitals, thus taking the tally of the total discharges to 1987.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 25,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 25: The COVID-19 count in Karnataka went up by 10 on Wednesday, reaching 51. The 10 new positives included two girls aged seven and nine who contracted the infection from their father.

The 34-year-old man had returned from Amsterdam on March 19 and tested positive as the 17th confirmed case in Karnataka.

Though his family were kept in isolation and under quarantine in their house, the children developed a cold. They were confirmed for COVID-19 infection while their mother is still negative.

The government remained tightlipped over whether or not a 70-year-old woman from Gouribidanuru who was put under house quarantine and died on Wednesday morning, tested positive for COVID-19. Government officials would neither confirm nor deny anything on the results of tests on the woman.

This evening’s bulletin issued by the Karnataka health department continued to indicate the strong correlation of coronavirus infection and foreign travel.

Among the positive cases identified today were

A 63-year-old Bengaluru man and his 59-year-old wife, with a history of travel to Brazil and Argentina.
Two 26-year-old men with a history of travel to Spain and arrived back in Bengaluru via Dubai.
Two others, a 63-year-old woman and her 69-year-old husband, had a history of travel to Athens and London.
A 34-year-old man, a resident of Udupi, who returned from Dubai
A 37-year old woman, a resident of Chitradurga, with a history of travel to Guyana and arrived back in Bengaluru via Delhi
Speaking to the media, medical education minister K Sudhakar said health officials were apprehensive the positives may go up tonight.

Of the corona positive cases detected in Karnataka so far, three have been discharged after quarantine, and 47 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals in a stable condition. There has been one fatality.

As per a recommendation by the high-level health committee, the government has decided to convert the Bowring Hospital into a coronavirus treatment hospital facility along with the Rajiv Gandhi Hospital for Chest Diseases and Victoria Hospital. 

“The number of positive cases are growing at an alarming rate and the government needs more treatment facilities. The government is for burning of COVID-19 death cases. However, due to some religious practices, it has been decided they would be buried in 8 ft deep pits,'' Dr Sudhakar said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.