The Central Bureau of Investigation has taken the prime accused in journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder case, Amol Kale, into custody as part of its investigation into the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, PTI reported on Thursday.
Dabholkar was murdered in Pune on August 20, 2013, when he was out for a morning walk.
The Karnataka Police’s Special Investigation Team arrested Kale in May in connection with Lankesh’s killing. Investigators suspect that he was involved in Dabholkar’s murder too, an official said.
Kale and Sachin Andure, who officials allege is the main suspect in the Dabholkar case, met in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district. Kale gave Andure a pistol, which he then passed on to his brother-in-law Shubham Surale, the official said. This pistol was recently found during raids by the CBI and the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad at the house of Surale’s friend, he said.
The investigating agency is expected to produce Kale in a court in Maharashtra on Thursday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday said three of the accused in the murder of Gauri Lankesh in September 2017 were also involved in the conspiracy to kill Dabholkar.
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