Bengaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh on Saturday released three sketches of two persons suspected to be her killers.
“Three sketches of two suspects have been made on the basis of their description by eyewitness accounts and the CCTV footage obtained. Two sketches of one suspect were made by two sketch-makers as per eyewitness accounts,” SIT Head and Inspector-General of Police (IGP) B.K. Singh told reporters here.
Lankesh, 55, editor of Kannada weekly tabloid ‘Gauri Lankesh Patrike’ was shot dead outside her house in the city’s south-west suburb on the night of September 5, sparking outrage and nationwide protests.
“We have got video clips of a motorcycle rider who is suspected to be involved in the commission of the offence,” asserted Singh.
Giving an account of the investigation conducted over the last month, Singh said the suspects, aged between 25-35 years, had resided in the city for at least a week before they committed the crime.
“It is suspected that these persons stayed in the area near the residence of Gauri Lankesh,” he said.
They carried out a “recce” around Lankesh’s home prior to committing the crime, he said.
The SIT has interrogated more than 200-250 people as part of the investigation so far, added Singh.
“We request the public to help us find their hide-outs in the city,” he added.
Along with sketches of the suspects, the SIT has also released to the public two video clips captured through CCTVs around the locality of Lankesh’s residence showing a motorcycle rider.
Those sharing any information that could lead to the killers shall be rewarded as announced by the state government, he said.
In September, Home Minister of Karnataka Ramalinga Reddy had announced that the state government had decided to reward Rs1 million (Dh56,516) to anyone providing information and clues as to the whereabouts of Lankesh’s killers.
“It is due to the public help that we have reached this far in the probe and could release the sketches of killers,” Singh added.
The 150-member SIT is carrying out the investigation “without any bias and is hunting for the suspects based on the sketches”, he said.
“We are investigating only on the basis of evidence, and are not looking at any particular institution behind these suspects,” Singh asserted.
“We have started our investigation based on the CCTV footage that was obtained from outside Gauri Lankesh’s residence. We have gone through at least 75 terabytes (TB) of video footage so far from various surveillance cameras around the locality,” he said.
A day after the murder, the state government formed an SIT under the state’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) to probe the murder that has inter-state ramifications as the suspects could be from within Karnataka or other states.
The SIT has IGP Singh as its head and Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) M.N. Anucheth as the main investigation officer (IO).
