SIT files 9,235-page second charge sheet in Gauri Lankesh murder case

BENGALURU: A special investigation team (SIT), which is probing the murder of senior journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, filed a second charge sheet on Friday. The 9,235-page document reportedly mentions the involvement of Hindu extremist group Sanathana Sanstha and names 18 people.

"We submitted an additional charge sheet against 18 accused persons to the Special Court. It is 9,235 pages. We have also sought permission to investigate further," M.N Anucheth, investigation officer at SIT said.

Gauri Lankesh, an editor of Kannada tabloid Gauri Lankesh Patrike, was shot down outside her residence in Raja Rajeshwari Nagar on September 5 last year.

In May this year, the SIT had filed the first charge sheet and had alleged the role of KT Naveen Kumar, a resident of Kadaluru (Mandya) in the murder.

In all, the SIT has arrested 17 people including Amol Kale (39) from Maharashtra, Amit Degwekar (39) from Goa and Manohar Edave (28) from Karnataka in connection with the murder.

The investigation team believes Parashuram Waghmare, a resident of Vijayapura district in North Karnataka had pulled the trigger and Ganesh Miskin from Hubbali had ferried the shooter to Gauri’s residence.