Five key suspects in Gauri Lankesh murder case linked to Sanatan Sanstha

The special investigation team of the Karnataka Police has narrowed its probe into the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh outside her home in Bengaluru on September 5 to five suspects linked to the right-wing Sanatan Sanstha. Four of the suspects are already facing Interpol’s red-corner notices for alleged involvement in a 2009 bomb blast in Madgaon, Goa.

A report in The Indian Express named the five missing persons as Praveen Limkar, 34, from Kolhapur; Jayaprakash alias Anna, 45, from Mangalore; Sarang Akolkar, 38, from Pune; Rudra Patil, 37, from Sangli and Vinay Pawar, 32, from Satara.

Patil, Akolkar and Pawar’s names had also cropped up during probes into the murders of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, and scholar and researcher MM Kalburgi.

The report, quoting sources familiar with the investigation into the four murders, said the cracking of the Gauri Lankesh case hinges on the ability of the Karnataka SIT to track down the five missing Sanatan Sanstha men. Sources in the Karnataka SIT said “good progress” had been achieved in the murder case.

The newspaper had earlier reported that a forensic analysis of four empty cartridges and the four bullets fired to kill Lankesh had found that the markings on the bullets and cartridges were similar to those found on the bullets and cartridges fired to kill Kalburgi. This hinted at the possibility that Lankesh and Kalburgi were shot with the same 7.65-mm pistol and suggested that one common group is behind the two killings.