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Gauri Lankesh Murder: SIT Arrests Man Who Allegedly Shot The Journalist As More Hindutva Connections Come To Light

This is the sixth arrest in the case.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), that is investigating the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, have said that they have arrested a man from Maharashtra, who allegedly pulled the trigger at the journalist.

The Indian Express reported that the Karnataka Police have arrested Parshuram Ashok Wagmare. The SIT has submitted a statement from Waghmare, who is said to have criminal records, admitting that he was part of the murder plot.

Lankesh was shot in front of her bike-borne assailants on the night of September 5, 2017 in front of her home in Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

The News Minute quoted a source from the SIT as saying, "The sketches drawn up by the SIT and also his pictures match. He was detained for two days, and after questioning him, we were sure that he was Gauri Lankesh's shooter. We have not yet found the murder weapon but we know that one of the six people arrested has the weapon."

Waghmare was arrested from his home in Maharashtra's Sindhagi.

The Indian Express report says that he was associated in the radical right-wing Sri Rama Sena and was arrested for hoisting a Pakistani flag in Sindhagi in 2012 to stoke communal tensions in the area.

Waghmare, 26, is the sixth person arrested in the case. The other people arrested in the case are KT Naveen Kumar, Amol Kale, Manohar Edve, Sujeeth Kumar alias Praveen and Amit Degvekar.

Meanwhile, the police have found links of the murder to more Hindutva groups.

A report in NDTV suggests that Naveen Kumar had also spoken of Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik who has now said that he knew Kumar.

Muthalik, while confirming that he knows Kumar has denied involvement in the murder. NDTV quoted him as saying, "Sri Ram Sene doesn't have any presence in Mandya district and has no links with him (Naveen). But he is a Hindu organizer and I know him. I have met him two or three times."

This comes close on the heels of reports that said Naveen Kumar admitted to getting help from people of a radical Hindutva group to plot the murder. He had said in a "voluntary statement" that the co-ordinator of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, Mohan Gowda, put him in touch with someone from a unit of the Sanatan Sanstha, a radical right-wing group based in Maharashtra, to plan the murder.

Gowda had denied any involvement in the murder.

Naveen Kumar himself is the founder of another radical group Hindu Yuva Sene.

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