On her birthday when like-minded activists observed ‘Gauri Day’ at Bengaluru’s Town Hall, the brother of late noted journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh said that he will seek a CBI probe over her murder.
55-year-old Gauri was shot dead from point-blank range by unknown assailants on September 5, 2017 at her house in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar. A 19-member-SIT led by IGP Intelligence BK Singh has been probing the murder as directed by CM Siddaramaiah the day after her murder. But there has been no significant breakthrough in the investigations until now.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, at Chamarajanagar where she was buried, Indrajit Lankesh alleged political pressure has affected the probe by the Special Investigation Team and he would approach the High Court.
“The only thing I want is for (the police) to catch murderers of my sister Gauri Lankesh. It has been five months since the investigation started and they have not made any progress. From whatever progress we have seen through the media, it seems like it is taking a political direction. This is the reason on Gauri’s birthday, I will be approaching the Karnataka High Court for a CBI enquiry,” he told reporters. He also questioned people who blamed the Centre for her death when law and order is a state subject.
He added, “I lost faith in the investigation the day the sketches were released.” Indrajit questioned how detailed sketches were prepared from CCTV footages.
Gauri's sister, Kavita, however, said that the family was still satisfied with the SIT probe in an interview with The Quint.
“This is not the family’s decision, but his own, and our family is not patriarchal, where the son gets to make the decision on behalf of the family. He has not been in touch with the investigating officers and he is unaware of the progress the SIT has made so far,” Kavita said.
She added, “The CBI has more than 13 unsolved cases with them. So how is it going to help the case? We have been in touch with the SIT and we have been informed about the progress in the case. If he wants to protest the government for the delay in the investigation, we will also be with him, but we don’t want a CBI inquiry yet.”
Kavita earlier too had expressed her confidence in the SIT probe.