11th arrest by SIT in Lankesh case, accused sent to judicial custody
BENGALURU: Police, on Wednesday, arrested the 11th accused in connection with the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh.
The accused Suresh HL is a resident of Tumakuru district.
Suresh HL (36) was arrested by the special investigation team (SIT) and produced before the third additional chief metropolitan magistrate on Thursday and remanded to judicial custody.
On Monday, police had arrested 50-year-old Rajesh Bangera from Kodagu, which was preceded by the arrests of Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin, who are believed to have driven Parashuram Waghmare, the suspected shooter, to Lankesh’s house on the night the crime was committed on a twowheeler.
The first breakthrough in the case came with the arrest of KT Naveen Kumar, a resident of Maddur, in February.
Naveen allegedly confirmed a well-planned conspiracy involving Sujith Kumar alias Praveen, Amol Kale, Amit Degwekar and Manohar Yedave.
Another person, Mohan Nayak, an Ayurveda practitioner, was arrested earlier this month.
Amol Kale andAmit Degwekar are believed to be the masterminds.
Bangera, reported to have links with right-wing organisations, is suspected to have recruited those two and one Dada alias Nihal, who the SIT is yet to track down.
While forensic analysis of the bullets found from the murder scene of Lankesh were found to be a match with those recovered from the house of Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi, who was shot dead at his house by two unidentified men.
Police is still trying to locate the weapon and the twowheeler used in the crime, a senior official said.