The Special Investigation Team on Thursday said it had arrested one more person for the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, taking the total numbers of arrested in the case to 10. HL Suresh, arrested from Tumakuru on Wednesday, is suspected to have provided shelter to the man who shot her dead.
Suresh was produced before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court and remanded in judicial custody, the Special Investigation Team said. Unidentified officials from the team claimed told PTI that Suresh had provided shelter to Parashuram Waghmare, who allegedly killed Lankesh outside her house in Bengaluru in September 2017.
In June, Parashuram Waghmare, 26, was taken into custody from Sindhagi in Vijaypura district of the state. Before Waghmare, the police had arrested five people in connection with the journalist’s murder – KT Naveen Kumar, Amol Kale, Manohar Edve, Sujeeth Kumar alias Praveen and Amit Degvekar.
The investigation team on Tuesday had arrested one more person in connection with the case in Kodagu district. Rajesh Bangera had allegedly trained the killers in using guns, The Indian Express reported. A magistrate sent 50-year-old Bangera, who works in the state government’s education department, to police custody for 13 days. Apart from training the killers, he is also accused of supplying cartridges to members of a covert group linked to Hindutva outfit Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.
Three arrests in the case were made last week as well. On July 20, the police arrested 50-year-old Mohan Nayak from Dakshina Kannada district, followed by Amit and Ganesh two days later.
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