Almost three years since the brutal murder of rationalist and writer MM Kalburgi, the CID, finally has a lead. The Special Investigation Team probing the murder of Gauri Lankesh has now uncovered that one of the suspects in Gauri’s murder was also allegedly a part of the plot to kill MM Kalburgi.
The SIT, which had established that the same murder weapon was used to kill both Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh, got a break after procuring the confession of accused Ganesh Miskin. “Ganesh Miskin confessed that he was present when MM Kalburgi was shot dead, but Miskin was not the one who opened fire, according to his statement. Miskin has said that professor MM Kalburgi was killed because of his anti-Hindu views,” an SIT source said.
The SIT sent the information to the CID, which is to get custody of Ganesh Miskin and four other suspects – Amol Kale, Sujeet Kumar, Amit Degwekar and Amit Baddi – soon.
Sources in the SIT said that Amol Kale, the man who allegedly planned Gauri’s murder, was also involved in the murder of MM Kalburgi. The SIT has shared parts of the voluntary statements of four accused and had submitted a formal report on MM Kalburgi’s murder to the CID last week.
Ganesh allegedly told the investigators that Amol Kale and Amit Degwekar, who was living in the Ponda-based ashram of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti were also involved in murders which were carried out in Maharashtra.
“Sujeet Kumar was in Dharwad on the day MM Kalburgi was killed (August 30, 2015). We suspect he was involved in handling logistics for Professor Kalburgi’s murder. Two bike-borne men had entered Kalburgi’s home and shot him. The suspicion is that Ganesh Miskin was the one who rode the bike,” the source added.
The SIT has also sent a team to Maharashtra to look for the mastermind of Gauri’s murder – Nihal alias Dada. Sources revealed that the SIT is expected to arrest three more people in connection with the crime.
Gauri Lankesh was shot dead in cold blood outside her residence in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar on the night of September 5, 2017. The SIT has so far arrested 12 men in connection with the crime. However, the investigators are yet to recover the murder weapon.