Gauri Lankesh Murder Accused, Out On Bail, Honoured By Hindutva Organisations

Amid 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Sanatana Dharma Ki Jai' chants, key men accused in the journalist Gauri Lankesh murder case were given a rousing welcome by some Hindutva organisations on their arrival in their home town over the weekend in Karnataka.

Gauri Lankesh, a senior journalist and activist, was shot dead on the night of September 5 in 2017 outside her Rajarajeshwari Nagar residence in Bengaluru. She was 55.

Ms Lankesh - who ran the weekly 'Gauri Lankesh Patrike,' a Kannada tabloid - was part of a group that worked for communal harmony. Her views were considered Leftist and anti-Hindutva.

Parashuram Waghmore and Manohar Yadave, accused in Gauri Lankesh murder case, were released along with six others on bail on October 9 by a trial court. After over six years in jail, they all were released on October 11.

On their arrival in Vijayapura, Hindutva activists Saturday night took them to a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue where they were welcomed with saffron shawls and garlands amid slogans.

A video of the two accused being honoured is now in wide circulation on social media. The accused refused to speak to the media.

Ms Lankesh is survived by her mother, her sister Kavitha Lankesh, a filmmaker and her brother Indrajit who also makes films and runs 'Lankesh Patrike'.

Before Ms Lankesh, MM Kalburgi, renowned scholar and the 77-year-old former Vice Chancellor of Hampi University, was shot dead at the doorstep of his home in Dharwad, Karnataka, in 2015.

(With agency inputs)