Karnad was on hit list of Lankesh killers: SIT

Bengaluru, June 13 

Film and theatre personality Girish Karnad and several litterateurs and rationalists were on the hit list of those suspected of killing journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, officials said today.

Besides Karnad, a recipient of the Jnanpith Award, the highest honour in literature, politician-litterateur BT Lalitha Naik, pontiff Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamy of Nidumamidi Mutt and rationalist CS Dwarakanath also figured in the list, sources in the SIT probing the Lankesh murder case said.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has recovered a diary from the suspects with entries in Devanagari script. The diary has the names of these personalities, known for their strong views against hardline Hindutva, who were to be targeted, sources said.

Some entries, they said, were coded and efforts were on to decipher them. The SIT had said yesterday it had arrested Parashuram Waghmare, 26, from Sindhagi in Vijayapura district of Karnataka, but his role in the conspiracy and other details would be revealed later as doing so now would affect the probe.

Speculation is rife that Waghmare could be Lankesh’s assassin as his physical appearance matched that of the man in the CCTV footage recovered from her residence who was suspected of having shot her. Waghmare was said to have links to Hindu right wing groups.

Inspector General of Police BK Singh, who heads the SIT, had said yesterday that nothing had emerged during the probe so far to suggest that Waghmare had shot Lankesh. — PTI