Bengaluru: A special police team probing journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder took a man into custody for questioning on Friday, nearly a fortnight after his arrest on a charge of possessing a pistol and live bullets here.
KT Naveen Kumar, reported to be in his late thirties, was caught by the organised crime wing of the state police’s central crime branch on February 18.
A native of Mandya district about 100 km from Bengaluru, Naveen Kumar was suspected to be on his way to sell the firearm.
Senior police officer MN Anucheth said the Special Investigation Team had taken Naveen Kumar into custody for interrogation on Friday. He, however, declined to give any more details. Reports in local media have described Naveen Kumar as someone with links to extreme right-wing groups.
Gauri Lankesh, 55, a critic of right-wing ideology and a fierce advocate of secularism, was shot dead at close range by unidentified men outside her home in Bengaluru on the night of September 5 last year. She edited Lankesh Patrike, a weekly newspaper.
The probe team was set up by the Karnataka government after the police was sharply criticised for failing to make any progress in the murder of the senior journalist shot dead outside her Bengaluru house.
A man wearing a helmet to conceal his face was recorded on security cameras as he shot her in the chest.
