Bengaluru journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead yesterday night; cops examining CCTV footage
Highlights
- Bengaluru journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead last night
- Police suspect she was shot by professional killers
- CCTV footage of nearby area is being examined
Around 8 pm last night, when senior journalist and activist
Gauri Lankesh stepped out of her car outside her home in Bengaluru to open the gates, seven
shots were fired at her at close range. Three bullets hit her and instantly killed the 55-year-old editor renowned for speaking her mind.
Police suspect hired killers and her family believes the murder has been
captured on one of the CCTVs closest to the porch where Ms Lankesh collapsed.
One of the killers is seen in a helmet and black clothes, a police source said.
"The CCTV camera (in the premises) has captured the whole incident.. I am very confident that the culprits will be caught soon," Ms Lakesh's brother Indrajit Lankesh, a filmmaker, told reporters.
Footage from CCTVs at Gauri Lankesh's Bengaluru home may have captured attackers: sources
Two years ago, renowned scholar MM Kalburgi was shot dead at his home in a chillingly similar manner, when he opened his door to unknown bikers in Dharwad, around 400 km from Bengaluru. That killing remains unsolved.
Karnataka Home Minister TB Jayachandra has said a link cannot be ruled out. In each case, the killers fired at close range and they were on bikes. Both were shot in the chest and head.
"There must be some conspiracy behind that (the killing). We can't rule out that it is like Kalburgi issue," Mr Jayachandra said today.
The 55-year-old was found on her porch by neighbours who had first mistaken the gunshots for firecrackers.
The police have retrieved the password-protected digital video recorder from the two CCTVs Ms Lankesh installed outside her home, which is flanked by two vacant plots.
The attackers either followed Ms Lankesh on her way home from work or were hiding nearby, waiting for her to return. The police say they have traced her route home and are trying to get clues from multiple CCTVs on the way.
Ms Lankesh's murder has triggered an outpouring of grief and anger among journalists, activists and several prominent persons who described it an attempt to silence "those who believe in democracy and decency". Many protest meetings have been organized today across the country.
The state government says she never shared anything about a threat with her family or with the police.
"Last week she called me, she wanted to meet me, at that time I was not the Home minister. I told her to come the same day but she told me - I will come on Monday. But she did not come," Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told reporters.