SIT arrests man suspected to have shot Gauri

Bengaluru: Nine months after the shocking murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh in the city, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing her murder, arrested a Hindu-tva activist on Monday night. Sources close to the investigation have indicated that 26-year-old Parashuram Waghmare who was produced in court Tuesday and remanded to 14 days custody could be the man who pulled the trigger on the night of September 5, killing the fiery 56-year-old last year.

The SIT picked up the alleged Sri Ram Sene activist from Sindagi town in Vijayapura district after two right-wing leaders whose names figure in the “confession” statement signed by KT Naveen Kumar, the first person to be arrested for the murder of senior journalist Gauri Lanke-sh, pointed to the involvement of the accused.

While SIT officials said that “it has not yet been established” whether it was Parashuram who pulled the trigger and pumped three bullets into her body, a source said that Parashuram’s involvement in the murder was revealed by the one of the four accused who is in police custody. His whereabouts were revealed to police by yet another accused whom they had detained for questioning following which Parashuram was arrested, the source said.

The police suspect that Parashuram was the pillion rider, while K.T. Naveen Kumar rode the bike to the crime spot. While Naveen sat on his bike at a distance from Gauri’s house, Parashuram walked to the gate and opened fire.

Parashuram, an alleged member of Sri Ram Sene, Tiger Group and other Hindutva outfits, was one of the accused arrested for hoisting Pakistan’s national flag outside tahsildar’s office on January 1, 2012.