Man detained in Lankesh murder case

Bengaluru: The probe into the controversial murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh has gained some momentum. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is dealing with the case has detained a man for allegedly being a part of the conspiracy that killed her. Police detained the man earlier this week, but refused to reveal his identity.

He is also suspected to have been involved in the murder of M.M. Kalburgi in August 2015 and Narendra Dabholkar in August 2013. Police sources say that he was currently conspiring the murder of an influential politician in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.

Gauri Lankesh was murdered in September 2017, outside her Rajarajeshwari Nagar residence in Bengaluru. The SIT had so far made only one arrest in the case. K.T. Naveen Kumar, a gunrunner, who was arrested by the Central Crime Branch and then handed over to a local police station that had registered cases against him. The SIT later questioned him and claimed that he was a part of the team that had murdered Lankesh and that he had given weapon training to them. In April, the SIT decided to conduct a narco-analysis test on Naveen, but failed when he refused to co-operate with the authorities.