The murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in September 2017 had created quite the stir in the social and political circles of the country. Many organisations had come out in the open and demanded immediate probe into the matter. Siddaramaiah led Congress government in Karnataka had also lost no time in setting up an independent Special Investigation Team to look into the happenings of the gruesome murder. The opposition and all the sections of the liberal media had started blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies for the murder. Nobody even considered blaming the Congress for the failing law and order condition in the state which had claimed many lives. The SIT formed to investigate the murder of Gauri Lankesh had arrested KT Naveen Kumar in connection with the murder, the second person who got arrested was Waghmare. Naveen Kumar had been arrested in March while Waghmare was caught earlier this month, another four people were also arrested in connection with the case.
In the most recent development the SIT has received a setback in the Gauri Lankesh murder case. On Wednesday, according to the police, Waghmare who had opened fire at Lankesh refused to confess his crime infront of the magistrate. The SIT was banking heavily on Waghmare’s confession to the crime, this was the only reason why they did not take any other accused to the court. The other five were supposed to be produced before the magistrate only through video conferencing. The refusal of Waghmare in front of the magistrate will seriously harm the working of the SIT. In another news the other prime accused Naveen Kumar has agreed to undergo the Narco-analysis test to prove his innocence. His acceptance to undergo the narco analysis test furthers the belief that he might be innocent in the whole trial. Speaking about Waghmare’s refusal, a source said, “Waghmare was taken before 19th ACMM to get his confession that he was the shooter in Gauri Lankesh case under 164 CrPc as per the protocol but he refused and was later brought before III ACMM court where the case is being heard and remanded in judicial custody till July 11”.
This is going to raise serious questions over the findings of the SIT, H.D. Kumaraswamy might have to take tough decisions in order to ensure that the case does get solved. The onus of finding the murder weapon or evidence that was destroyed now lies with the SIT. Their job has increased manifold owing to the refusal of Waghmare to confess. Congress is still in coalition with the JD(S) in Karnataka and it will therefore lead to problems for the JD(S)-Congress coalition as well. The killers of Gauri Lankesh need to be found and brought to justice as early as possible considering the quick action taken by the centre in Shujaat Bukhari’s murder in Jammu and Kashmir. Their identification and bringing them to justice is a must for the new CM of the state of Karnataka. Congress and JD(S) both would have felt dejected following the refusal to confess done by Waghmare. So, the SIT whose more than 6 months of planning to bring the case to a speedy end seems to have failed drastically.
