Gauri Lankesh got CCTV just 15 days ago

Bengaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the IGP, Intelligence, Bengaluru, BK Singh that has been set up by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to probe the brutal killing of firebrand journalist and activist Ms. Gauri Lankesh is going over the CCTV footage from the cameras installed at the Gauri Lankesh Patrike editor's home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

Sources told this newspaper that as reported on Tuesday, after Ms. Gauri had told her mother Indramma that she had noticed two men on a bike following her from her office in Gandhi Bazaar to her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar a fortnight ago, she had installed CCTV cameras at the entrance to her home.

The SIT, which has a 31-member team, with DCP (West) MN Anucheth as its Investigative Officer (IO), has already collected every minute detail from the crime scene through Tuesday night. But it’s the footage from the two CCTV cameras at Gauri's residence which could prove conclusive. Although grainy and dark, it has reportedly captured the entire incident in which an assassin can be seen pumping three bullets into Ms. Gauri, killing her on the spot

Police however said that neither Ms. Gauri nor her mother alerted the police that she had been followed several days ago. However, she was scheduled to meet the Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Monday “for a talk” but did not turn up. Sources close to Ms.Gauri now believed that she may have wanted to meet the HM and discuss the incident and demand security for herself.
 
“She was living in the house all alone for more than 10 years. She never felt the need for a security guard or the installation of CCTV cameras. It was just 15 days ago she ordered for the installation two CCTV cameras after a strong suspicion that she was being followed,” the source said.

The special team is working on examining the CCTV footages from the cameras at her house as well as the surrounding areas and also obtaining footage from all the CCTV cameras from the route she travelled on Tuesday to identify the assassins.

A police source who is familiar with developments told The Asian Age that the team was examining the last 15 days CCTV footage from Gauri's house and 20 days footage from cameras installed in surrounding areas as they have a strong suspicion that the two assassins had done a total recce of the area and were aware of all the routes and the exact location of the cameras installed in Gauri's house.

“The murder, undoubtedly, was meticulously planned before its execution. We suspect that the assassins had closely followed the movements of Ms. Gauri for 15-20 days. A few reports also claim she had spoken to her mother 15 days ago about two men following her on a bike in Gandhi Bazaar while she was returning home,” the source said.   On Tuesday too, the assassins, according to the police sources, had followed Ms. Gauri’s car in a bike from her office, until her home. As she parked her car, stepped out and walked towards the gate to open it, two helmet-wearing men came towards her, with one of them opening fire at her, at point blank range, killing her.

What cameras at Gauri’s house caught
Though not good enough to identify the culprits or even the colour of the garments they were wearing, the CCTV footage obtained from the cameras installed at Ms. Gauri’s house have caught the entire incident.

According to the source, the footage shows Ms. Gauri parking her car white Toyota Etios (KA-0]5-MR-3782) in front of the gate between 7.45-7.55 p.m on Tuesday night. She steps out of the car, with the keys still in the ignition, to open the gate and park the car inside. As she walks towards the gate, a man wearing a helmet and a jacket enters the frame, pulls out a pistol and fires a single shot at Ms. Gauri who had by then half-opened the gate.

Ms. Gauri who was hit with a bullet, is seen running towards the veranda outside the main door to her house, when the assassin fires three mpre continuous rounds while standing at the gate. While two bullets slam into her, one misses her and pierces into the wall.

Ms. Gauri collapses on the ground and dies on the spot while the assassin is seen running back to his associate, who was waiting on the bike (not in frame) which they wheel back and use to get away.   Interestingly, the source recounts, the assassins, instead of going straight back to the main road which has several houses on it, take a U-turn and head down the poorly-lit street which has no houses.

“They had parked the bike at a safe distance to avoid being caught by the CCTV camera installed at Ms. Gauri’s residence,” the source said.