Gauri Lankesh murder case: Special Investigation Team makes 6th arrest

Karnataka Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested a man in connection to the Gauri Lankesh murder case. Parshuram Wagmare, SIT's 6th arrest in the murder case, was caught in Vijayapura on Mondaymorning and was produced before the 3rd ACMM Court today.

Wagmare, who is suspected to be the shooter, has been taken into a 14-day police custody for further interrogation. The SIT has described the arrest as the biggest breakthrough in the murder case.

On May 30, the Special Investigation Team, which is probing the murder case of social activist Gauri Lankesh, filed the first charge sheet of preliminary investigation before the third Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM).

The 650-pages long charge sheet was filed nine months after the crime took place and contained statements of over 130 people including Naveen Kumar alias Hottey Manja -- mentioned as the prime accused -- and his friends.

According to the filed charge sheet, Naveen Kumar is suspected to have met sharpshooters from North India. The meeting between the shooters and him took place in a forest area of Chamarajnagara district of Karnataka.

The team also recovered a small notebook from Praveen containing notes related to the planning of the murder.

55-year-old anti-establishment voice, Gauri Lankesh, was shot dead by unknown assailants at her Bengaluru home on September 5, 2017.

On March 9, six months after the murder, the Karnataka police arrested alleged gunrunner Naveen Kumar. He was taken into police custody on March 2 for an interrogation in connection with the case.