Gauri Lankesh murdered by Sanatan Sanstha, planning took five years: SIT probe

Right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha planned for almost five years to kill journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, the special investigation team (SIT) had told a local Bengaluru court. In its 9,235-page charge sheet filed before the Principal Civil and Sessions court on Friday, the SIT stated that Lankesh was targetted by the Sanatan Sanstha for no personal reasons but for her ideology. The SIT charge sheet also stated that the right-wing Hindu outfit planned the killing for almost five years.

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“The killer and the killed have no personal or any other enmity. Why she was killed? Because she believed in a certain ideology, she wrote and spoke on that. So, it must be an ideology and it must be an organisation,” PTI quoted Special Public Prosecutor S Balan as saying.

The probe team also sought the court's permission to carry out further investigation in the case. This was the additional charge sheet. The first charge sheet in the case was filed in May this year. 

The 55-year-old journalist-activist was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017. The murder of the noted scribe, known for her fearless writing and left-leaning ideology, triggered a massive nationwide outrage, which led to the then Siddaramaiah-led government to order the SIT probe into the case.

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According to news agency PTI, citing SIT sources, 18 people, including shooter Parashuram Waghmare, masterminds Amol Kale, Sujith Kumar alias Praveen and Amit Degwekar, have been accused in the crime so far.