In a major breakthrough in the murder case of journalist Gauri Lankesh, SIT (special investigation team) sleuths took into custody a suspected shooter identified as Parashuram Waghmare on Monday, June 11.
The 26-year-old Parashuram, a Marathi-speaking man, reportedly hails from Sindagi, Vijaypura district in Karnataka. While some reports claimed that he was detained from Sindagi itself, a few said he was nabbed in Maharashtra.
He was presented before the 3rd ACMM court following which the judge remanded him to 14 days in custody. The SIT told the court that he was directly involved in the crime.
"We need to question him before making a comment. One of our teams picked up the Marathi speaking man in his late 30s. He is 5'1" tall and weighs about 75-80kg. No pistol or firearms were found on him," a SIT officer said.
The SIT in March 2018, six months after the murder, arrested KT Naveen Kumar, a key accused. In his confession, he mentioned four other associates who were identified as Manohar Edve, Sujith Kumar alias Praveen, Amol Kale alias Bhaisab, and Amit Degwekar alias Pradeep, in connection with the case.
Two of them were arrested from Karnataka while the other two were detained from Pune and Goa.
The key accused Naveen had claimed that Praveen had a direct role in Lankesh's murder. He also confessed that it was Naveen who plotted her murder 15 days before it happened on September 5, 2017, News 18 reported.
The murder of Gauri Lankesh created a nation-wide outrage. She was shot dead in front of her house. Lankesh was a renowned Kannada journalist known for her strong anti-Hindutva stand.
