Gauri Lankesh Murder: Accused KT Naveen Kumar agrees for narco-analysis test, says lawyer

Accused in the murder case of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh murder case, KT Naveen Kumar has agreed to undergo a narco-analysis test, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

“My client has agreed to undergo a narco-analysis test to prove his innocence in the Gauri Lankesh murder case. We have applied for it in the city civil court,” counsel A Vedamurthy told PTI.

A city civil and Sessions Court on Tuesday sought to know from Kumar whether he was prepared to undergo the narco analysis test after his counsel alleged the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder did not conduct any similar test earlier.

Vedamurthy, while making submissions before the court on Tuesday had alleged SIT had taken Kumar for a narco test in Gujarat, but without informing him.

“It neither took us as accomplice to Kumar for narco-analysis in Gujarat, nor conducted any test on him. We were not informed about it also. So by the time our advocate reached Gujarat, the SIT team was ready to leave with Kumar, saying he refused to undergo the test,” he said.

Vedamurthy further alleged that no documents related to Rs 1.10 lakh payment to the Forensic Science Laboratory for narco analysis was furnished.

He also alleged that the charge sheet filed by the SIT against Kumar was full of inconsistencies.

“Ayaz-Ullah-Sharief, who claimed to have sold bullets to Naveen Kumar, had made a statement that he did so for Rs 3,000, but as per a statement of the witness present during the actual transaction, it was sold for Rs 20,000,” he said.

“Sharief has in his statement said he gave dummy bullets to Naveen Kumar for making a locket,” he added.

Vedamurthy went on to clarify that the bullets purchased by Naveen Kumar and other accused in Lankesh’s murder did not match.

The hearing of the case will resume tomorrow.

Earlier, Kumar, in a statement to the SIT, had claimed he had failed to arrange for bullets to execute the plot to kill Lankesh.

He had also stated that he became aware of the conspiracy to kill Lankesh last August after Praveen Kumar, another suspect, told him about it.

He further had said Praveen had told him to arrange for bullets to kill Lankesh, but he couldn’t complete the task and that he came to know of her killing through TV channels.

Lankesh, who was known for her strong anti-Hindutva stand, was shot dead in front of her house here on September 5 last year, triggering a nationwide outrage.

The SIT has arrested six persons, including Parashuram Waghmare, who it has alleged, was her assassin.

(With inputs from agencies)