Senior journalist Gauri Lankesh's brother Indrajit says he just wants his sisters killers found.
The brother of Gauri Lankesh, the outspoken journalist who was murdered on Tuesday, is convinced that eldest sister was killed because of the ideas she expressed. While the probe into her murder is still young, Indrajit's comments yesterday that Maoists could be behind her death had caused surprise. Gauri had worked with the Communal Harmony Forum to persuade Maoists to give up arms.
Gauri was the eldest child of writer and newspaper editor, P Lankesh. Her brother, Indrajit, was the youngest. Their differences had been public knowledge. Their dispute over their late father's tabloid, Lankesh Patrike, led to Gauri starting her separate Gauri Lankesh Patrike. She was seen to be left of centre - while recent speculation put him on the right.
"She was on the left and I was not in the right because I was just a journalist. My father thought me one thing in the Lankesh school of journalism that you should always be in the opposition part as a journalist," Mr Lankesh said.
He is convinced that Gauri Lankesh was killed because of the ideas she expressed.
"It might be the right wing extremists or it might be the Maoists because of the background," he told NDTV. "Whoever it might be, I want the killers to be found," he said.
But there is some doubt over the continuation of the newspaper in which the feisty journalist expressed her rather strong views. "See I have no idea because it was
Gauri Lankesh Patrike - the name itself was her. It was a one-man army," he said, leaving the decision on the Kannada paper's future to their mother. "I will stand by it," he said.
Indrajit Lankesh also clarified his comments yesterday that Gauri Lankesh had got hate messages from Naxals.
"The first day when everybody gathered in front of her house the first reaction - in the media and the TV and the people there was that she had been killed because of her ideology and hard core writing. All the channels and news and people in the streets said it was right wing extremists. The next day, even the regional channels and the home minister said we can't not consider the Maoists angle," he said.