CID turns away rowdy sheeter Kunigal Giri who offered to be questioned in Gauri Lankesh murder case

Even as the Gauri Lankesh murder case gets murkier by the day, with investigators left with a very little clue on who could be behind the gory act, the CID headquarters on Friday, September 15, was in for a surprise. Rowdy-sheeter Kunigal Giri arrived at the headquarters and said that he was willing to be questioned as his name had cropped up in the matter.

There was quite some chaos at the venue when Giri reportedly came with his parents and said the police could question him if it would help the case. However, he was turned away by the cops who explained that they did not need to interrogate him.

Speaking about Giri's sudden arrival, chief investigating officer MN Anucheth told the Times of India: "The SIT has not called Kunigal Giri for questioning and has no intention of doing so."

Giri has been linked to many criminal activities and was in jail for a few years too. In fact, he was released on bail only on Thursday.

Meanwhile, investigation on the case is going on in full-swing with numerous CCTV footages being scanned for hints. From one of the footages, the investigators believed that the attackers used a Pulsar bike to flee the crime scene. It is also believed that the attacker was riding pillion as a shadow of the leg of probably the rider was seen in the footage, reported TOI.

The Special Investigation Team working on the case has also set up a helpline so that the public could provide them with clues, if there were any. However, the SIT has failed to find anything concrete.

"Many of the callers named a seer as suspect. One of the very few important calls led us to a motorcyclist. We picked him up for questioning but had to let him go as he had nothing to do with the case," an officer said.

While Goa-based outfit Sanatan Sanstha's name had come up in the case, it refuted these reports through a press release and said it had nothing to do with Lankesh's murder.

Lankesh was shot dead at her home in Bengaluru on Tuesday, September 5. The 55-year-old journalist was returning home from work had stepped out of her car to open the gates when she was shot seven times. Four bullets are said to have hit Lankesh and neighbours found her lying on the porch around 8 pm.

The CCTV at her residence shows a man entering the compound of her residence in RR Nagar and shooting at her. While the first bullet superficially injured her, it was the fourth bullet, which hit her heart, that killed her. As per the CCTV footage, the scribe was shot from such a close range that she even saw the attacker's face.