Bengaluru: Murdered journalist Gauri Lankesh’s brother Indrajit Lankesh said yesterday that he would move the Karnataka High Court demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into her death. Unidentified persons shot dead Gauri outside her home in Bengaluru on Sept. 5, 2017.
“It has been five months since Gauri’s death,” Indrajit Lankesh told the media after lighting a candle on his sister’s grave in Chamrajpet, Bengaluru. “I fully cooperated with the investigation, but I feel the Special Investigation Team (SIT), under pressure from the State, is carrying out the investigation along only one track. Today I will speak to my lawyers and will approach the High Court.” Jan. 29 would have been Gauri’s 56th birthday.
Her brother said that he wondered how the investigation team could release detailed sketches of the accused based merely on CCTV footage in which the men’s faces were covered with helmets. “I lost faith in the investigation the day the sketches were released.”
Indrajit Lankesh added that his sister’s murder was discussed even in the British and United States Legislatures.
“Since the murder has occurred in Bengaluru, and the Special Investigation Team has been constituted by the State, all questions regarding the murder should be addressed to the State,” Indrajit Lankesh said. “But I found people questioning the Centre, which was something I could not digest.”
Regarding reports that the investigation team had made a breakthrough in the case, Indrajit Lankesh said that the team should announce such a development. He also expressed disappointment at the presence of Congress leaders including Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharamaiah at a rally in support of Gauri Lankesh three days after her murder. Indrajit Lankesh said that he had boycotted the “Gauri Day” event at Town Hall in Bengaluru yesterday.
Gauri’s sister Kavitha Lankesh, however, has spoken in support of the SIT and said it would be wrong to transfer the case at this juncture, when the SIT was “close to solving it.”
This post was published on January 30, 2018 6:52 pm