Karnataka government has claimed that it had identified the killers of journalist Gauri Lankesh but evidence was still being collected in the case, primarily to establish their crime.
Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that his government had established the identity of the killers but added that revealing their identity will jeopardise the investigation.
“We have got clues, but we cannot tell things to the media for now because we should have correct evidence for the clues we have got,” he said.
“If there is no proper evidence when we file the charge sheet in the court, it won’t stand. So we are trying to collect the evidence properly. We know who has done it (the killing) and what…. everything we know,” Reddy told reporters at Chikkaballapur, 35 kms from here, on Sunday.
The 55-year-old journalist was murdered as she tried to enter her house in Bangalore last month. The Karnataka government had decided to form a Special Investigation Team to probe her killing, which had sparked nationwide outrage and protests.
Gauri, a writer, publisher and editor, had returned home in her car and was opening the gate when motorcycle-borne assailants sprayed bullets, with two hitting her in the chest and one on her forehead, police officials had said.
After working with The Times of India for its Bengaluru edition, ‘Sunday’ magazine and a Telugu television channel, Gauri took over the mantle from her father P Lankesh, a progressive writer, to run ‘Lankesh Patrike’.
Family feud led her to start her own tabloid ‘Gauri Lankesh Patrike’ in 2005.
With Left leanings, Gauri was also actively involved in bringing Naxals into the mainstream and had often come in conflict with rightwing outfits.
As Gauri’s killing sent shock waves, Siddaramaiah instructed the police to identify and give protection to free thinkers and those involved in the Left movement.