Activist and journalist Gauri Lankesh and Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi were killed with the same gun two years apart. The gun, a 7.65mm country-made gun was identified by a forensic report by the Karnataka Police Special Investigation Team. This is the first official report by a government agency linking the two murders.
Five people were arrested by the Karnataka SIT, all affiliated to Hindutva groups, Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate Hindu Janajagruti. The first arrest was of Naveen Kumar from Maddur, Karnataka, who stated to the SIT that Gauri Lankesh was murdered because of her statements against Hinduism and Hindu gods. Kumar has affiliations to the Hindu Yuva Sena and has attended many meetings of the Sanatan Sanstha in Goa and Karnataka.
The four others arrested that are believed to have been involved in the murder are Sujeet Kumar from Udupi, Amol Kale from Pune, Amit Degwekar from Ponda and Manohar Edave from Vijayapura.
There have been no arrests in the murder of MM Kalburgi who was shot with two 7.65 mm country guns in his home in Dharwad. The second gun that was used to kill Kalburgi has been identified forensically as the same one used to kill Govind Pansare, a leftist thinker, and his wife at their home in Kolhapur in 2015.
Militant Hindu outfits that go against the secular fabric of our country are allowed to grow and thrive under the current government. Yet is no place left for free thinkers or anyone with a secular or rational bend of mind.