The Special Investigation Team probing the murder of Kannada writer MM Kalburgi filed a chargesheet against six accused on Saturday, reported PTI. Kalburgi, a Kendriya Sahitya Akademi awardee and anti-superstition activist, was shot dead at his home in Dharwad district in Karnataka on August 30, 2015.
The six people named in the chargesheet are Amol Kale, Ganesh Miskin, Praveen Prakash Chatur, Vasudev Suryavamshi, Sharad Kalaskar and Amith Baddi. All these people are also named accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case. Lankesh was shot dead in front of her home in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017.
According to the chargesheet, the men worked for an unnamed organisation. However, the additional chargesheet filed in the Gauri Lankesh case said these men were named as members of Hindutva organisation Sanathan Sanstha.
In March, the Supreme Court had directed that the murder case of Kalburgi be transferred to the same special investigation team that is looking into Lankesh’s killing. Earlier, investigators had submitted a forensic report that earlier said the same gun was used to kill both Kalburgi and Lankesh.
“The investigation has so far revealed that all the above accused persons are active members of an unnamed organisation,” read the SIT’s chargesheet, according to NDTV. “The members of this organisation targeted persons [opposed] to the organisation’s beliefs and ideology. They strictly followed the guidelines and principles mentioned in the ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’, a book published by the Sanatan Sanstha.” It added that the accused were selected on the basis of their violent histroy. They were allegedly trained for several months in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
According to a press note issued by the Special Investigation Team, accused Miskin and Chatur met Kale on August 30, 2015. “Amol Kale handed over a bag containing a 7.65 mm calibre country-made pistol to Ganesh Miskin,” it read. Chatur and Miskin then reached Kalburgi’s house on a stolen motorcycle. “Ganesh Miskin went to the house and shot Dr Kalburgi twice in his head, killing him,” said the chargesheet. “He and Praveen Chatur then fled from the scene.”
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