SIT to seek brain mapping tests for 4 accused in Gauri Lankesh probe: Sources

The Special Investigation Team probing the cold-blooded murder of noted journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh last September, is likely to seek permission for brain mapping and lie detector tests for four accused.

A source in the SIT told TNM that narco tests will be sought as the accused are reportedly not co-operating with the investigation. 

Parashuram Waghmore (the alleged shooter), Amol Kale (mastermind), Amit Degwekar and Manohar Edave are among the accused arrested in the case, and the SIT wants them to be ‘brain mapped’.

The SIT claims that with the arrest of Parashuram on Sunday, they have made significant headway into solving the murder, which happened nine months ago. The next step for the investigation is to recover the murder weapon. It has also come to light that they had plotted to kill KS Bhagwan three months back.

Read: Were Girish Karnad and Chandrashekar Patil also targets of Gauri's killers? SIT probes

Till now, the SIT claims that it has been misled by multiple accused arrested in the case but it has managed to unravel a larger plot to kill other rationalists and authors like KS Bhagwan and Girish Karnad.

Notably, it has also been claimed by the SIT that forensic reports suggest that the same murder weapon was used for murdering noted rationalist MM Kalburgi in Dharwad.

Gauri Lankesh was shot dead from point blank range at her doorstep in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwarinagar on the night of September 5, 2017. 

Earlier, the SIT had got permission from the 3rd ACMM Court to undertake narco analysis of KT Naveen Kumar, the first accused to be arrested in the case. However, he had refused to undergo the test once he was taken to the Gujarat Forensic Science Lab in Ahmedabad.

This has been recorded in the first charge sheet submitted to the court. 

Other than this, the roughly 650-page preliminary chargesheet had included 131 witnesses, including forensic experts and eyewitnesses. It also included statements of family members of Gauri Lankesh, doctors who performed the autopsy and the officers who visited the spot on the night of the murder.

After Naveen’s arrest, the SIT had subsequently arrested Praveen, Amol Kale, Amit Degwekar and Manohar Edave in May. The investigators claimed that they have searched several places in Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra after the arrest of Praveen and his three aides. 

The source claims that clinching evidence has been obtained in the case so far.