SIT calls right-wing leader for quizzing

NEWDELHI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh has summoned Rakesh Math, Vijayapura district president of fringe right-wing outfit Sri Ram Sene, for questioning, a police official said on Saturday.

Lankesh was shot dead at the entrance of her Bengaluru residence on September 5 last year.

The SIT decided to question Math since the suspected shooter, Parashuram Waghmare, is an active member of the Hindutva organisation linked to moral policing in parts of Karnataka, the official said.

Math and Waghmare were allegedly involved in hoisting a Pakistani flag outside the tahsildar office in their hometown Sindagi of Vijayapura district in Karnataka in January 2012.

The SIT believes Math has a strong support base in coastal regions, including Mangaluru, and parts of north Karnataka. “We have summoned Rakesh Math. He has not come yet,” the official said. Sri Ram Sene founder and chief Pramod Muthalik has distanced himself and his organisation from Waghmare and the killings of Lankesh and other rationalists. “There is no connection between Sri Ram Sene and Waghmare. He is neither our member nor our worker. This I say very clearly,” said Muthalik. “Math is our district president. However, the organisation has its own constitution according to which it functions. If somebody does something privately in his personal capacity, it cannot be held responsible,” he said.