Bengaluru: Editor, social activist and a virulent critic of right-wing groups, Gauri Lankesh, was shot dead Tuesday night outside her residence in tony Raja Rajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru by three unidentified bike-borne assailants, setting off a public outcry, with her gangland style murder drawing comparisons to the murders of writers and thinkers Dr M. M. Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar, who were all gunned down in similar fashion.
Ms Lankesh, in her early 50s, was editor of the edgy Kannada tabloid "Gauri Lankesh Patrike".
She was gunned down in her own home just as she returned from office at around 7.45 pm on Tuesday evening. She had parked her car, and was about to enter her home, where she lived alone when two of the three men fired at her at point-blank range with a small pistol or revolver, police said.
She suffered bullet injuries to her head and her chest, and died instantly.
Neighbours from an apartment complex next door, who came running up at the sound of gunshots found her lying in a pool of blood on her patio. Police, who arrived shortly thereafter said there were four empty cartridges by her body, leading them to suspect that four rounds of were fired at her.
A post-mortem will be conducted on her body which was moved to Victoria Hopspital. Without CCTV cameras, police will have their work cut out to track the killers, although 3 teams, one headed by the DCP Crime, and two more have thrown a security ring around her home, and the city and are checking all bikers.
Gauri was tailed last week but did not seek security
It is learnt that journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead in front of her house on Tuesday evening, had noticed two suspicious men following her on a bike in Gandhi Bazaar a week ago.
The two men had reportedly followed from her office till her home last week. Gauri had told her mother Indira about it. But she did not alert the police or seek protection. Gauri lived alone in the house, while her mother lived with the younger daughter Kavita Lankesh, a film director.
The vacant sites next to Gauri’s house have bushy growth and anyone could have easily hidden behind them. The assailants might have also taken advantage of this, the police suspected.
Activists stage protests
Following Gauri Lankesh’s murder, many progressive organisations held protests across the state against the BJP and RSS. Around 60 persons staged a protest near her house while another group of activists held protests at Corporation Circle late in the night. Protests were held even in Dharwad and other districts. The agitators shouted slogans against BJP & RSS, blaming them for the incident. They also demanded immediate arrest of the assailants.
Twitter reactions
B.S. Yeddyurappa
Shocked to hear the murder of #Gauri Lankesh strongly condemn this inhuman barbaric murder. Law &Order in the state has completely collapsed
Office of RG
The truth will never be silenced. Gauri Lankesh lives on in our hearts. My condolences &love to her family. The culprits have to be punished
Ramesh Srivats
They say the pen is mightier than the sword.Unfortunately, today, the gun is mightier than the pen. RIP #gaurilankesh
May voices never die.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Shocking and blood curdling to hear about the murder of Gauri Lankesh. These monstrous criminals must be nailed n dealt with sternly.
Shehla Rashid
You are not dead. We are not afraid. This strengthens our resolve to fight. #GauriLankesh was a strong supporter of students'
Siddaramaiah
In fact, this is an assassination on democracy. In her passing, Karnataka has lost a strong progressive voice, and I have lost a friend.
Dinesh Gundurao
#GauriLankesh murder is indeed a challenge for our Govt. Finding the truth is vital as her death strikes at the very root of our democracy.
Did her FB, Twitter rant do her in?
- Her friends feared that she had fallen victim because of her acerbic posts on Facebook against right wing organizations-the latest being a comment on a video posted by former Union minister Shashi Tharoor about nuns celebrating Onam in Kerala. In her comment she remarked "KERALITES celebrating Onam. religious differences be damned!!!!! this is the reason why they call their ‘country’ (i call it country, did you notice cheddis??) as ‘Gods own country'. please, my mallu friends, please keep up your spirit of secularism. (PS: hopefully next time i am in God's own country, someone
- will get me nice Kerala beef dish!!!! And cheddis be damned!!!!)" taking a dig at RSS activists.
- Her friends also spoke of her support for Lingayats on the controversial issue of a separate religion status just as Dr Kalburgi did.
- She could have also been facing a financial crunch and met several ministers for advertorial support for her tabloid.
