Parashuram Waghmore, the man accused of shooting Gauri Lankesh, was remanded to 14-day judicial custody on Monday.
Waghmore, who was arrested by the Special Investigation Team on June 10, was in police custody till Monday. Parashuram Waghmore was remanded to 14-day judicial custody by the 3rd ACMM Court in Bengaluru.
SIT sources say that the suspected masterminds in the case, Amol Kale and Nihal alias Dada along with Sujeet Kumar alias Praveen, had coached Waghmore to kill Gauri Lankesh.
“According to Waghmore, Amol Kale had told him that he was born to be a soldier whose purpose was to save Hindutva. Amol allegedly told Waghmore that he was born to kill people like Gauri Lankesh who, they believed, was against Hinduism. They had allegedly shown Waghmore videos of Gauri Lankesh speaking and convinced him that he was meant to kill Gauri Lankesh,” SIT sources said.
The SIT has also stepped up security for 26 people, who they believe were a part of the “hit list” mentioned in the diary of Amol Kale, recovered during a search operation.
Gauri Lankesh was assassinated outside her house in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwarinagar. The SIT, which took over the case soon after the murder, found a lead after it issued a public appeal to come forth with any information about the murder.
According to SIT sources, the team received a tip-off that a man named Suresh had rented a house in Seegehalli to two men who vacated the house a day after Gauri’s murder.
“The house was rented out in July. Suresh was contacted by Amol Kale, after which he rented out the place to the two men. A few days later, Sujeet Kumar alias Praveen began staying at the house. A few days on, Parashuram Waghmore also began staying at the house. The two men remain unidentified and Suresh says that they spoke in Hindi or Marathi. Nihal alias Dada, Manohar Edave and KT Naveen Kumar also visited the house regularly. Sometime in late July, Kale shifted into the Seegehalli house, while Parashuram and Praveen took up another place closer to Lankesh’s residence,” the SIT source said.