The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the murder of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh, was given the custody of accused KT Naveen Kumar for five days by the Bengaluru Magistrate Court on Friday, 9 March.
The SIT produced Naveen before the court on Friday, wherein the latter was informed that Naveen was "accused number one" in the case and one Praveen was "accused number two".
Revising the FIR filed against Naveen for carrying 15 cartridges, the SIT added sections 307 ( attempt to murder) and 120B ( criminal conspiracy). Sources in the SIT said these sections have been added as police have evidence that Naveen was part of a conspiracy to kill writer KS Bhagawan.
The SIT has also been questioning Kumar, an alleged gun-runner, for the past 15 days.
The 37-year-old Kumar had been on the radar of the investigative agencies. The Central Crime Branch, acting on a tip off that he was illegally trying to sell .32 mm cartridges in Bengaluru’s Cottonpete, arrested him on 18 February and recovered 15 rounds of cartridges from him. This was the first arrest in the case.
On 2 March, the suspect was remanded into 8 days’ custody for interrogation in connection with the murder case.
Meanwhile, the SIT is still on the lookout for Praveen, the "accused number two", who it said was identified by Kumar as the person who visited him days before Lankesh's murder. However, SIT officials suspect that Praveen is an alias. A team has now been sent to investigate the address provided by Kumar.
The SIT also submitted a sealed report to the court. According to the sources, the report contains the details of other people, whom the SIT suspects to be part of the Gauri Lankesh murder. The names of these people have been kept confidential as the police is still on the lookout for them.
Moreover, the SIT had also asked the court for permission to conduct three tests – polygraph, narco analysis and brain mapping – as it provided a video clipping of Kumar giving his consent for the tests. However, the court denied consent and the hearing was subsequently adjourned.
The SIT had suspected that Kumar may have had contact with Lankesh's killers. It wasn't treating Kumar as a murder suspect in the case, but as a "person of interest".
Kumar hails from Mandya district of south Karnataka but currently lives in Chikmagalur. Kumar is also the founder of Hindu Yuva Sene.
A report from The Indian Express had said Kumar allegedly bore a close resemblance to the person caught on CCTV footage conducting a recce of the journalist’s residence a few hours before her murder.
Lankesh was a Bengaluru-based activist and the editor of tabloid Gauri Lankesh Patrike. She was killed after unidentified men shot at her from close range, outside her residence in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, late on 5 September, last year.
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