According to Bangalore Mirror, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to investigate the Gauri Lankesh murder case has hit a new roadblock in their investigation. On Wednesday, Parashuram Waghmare, the man who allegedly open fired at Gauri Lankesh refused to ‘confess’ to the crime before the magistrate. Another significant cause of worry for the SIT is that the first accused arrested, KT Naveen Kumar, has claimed innocence and agreed to undergo a narco-analysis test to prove the same.
As reported by Bangalore Mirror, the SIT reportedly structured their whole case around statements and confessions but now it seems it’s all coming undone. The SIT’s confidence in their case could be sensed by their decision to only take out Waghmare out of the prison while the other five accused in custody were produced to the court via video conferencing.
Earlier, as per reports, Waghmare was painted as a Hindutva fanatic who was allegedly brainwashed to kill her as she was writing against Hindutva. It was alleged that Waghmare killed her taking it to be a matter of pride.
The other issue faced by the SIT is that of NT Naveen Kumar. Kumar’s lawyer A Vedhamurthy has said that Kumar was willing to undergo a narco-analysis test. The lawyer furthered, his client has nothing to hide as far as this particular case is concerned, and bullets seized from Kumar did not match the bullets found in Lankesh’s body.
Earlier in March, the SIT probing the murder had taken Naveen to Gujarat for narco-analysis, but had then backed off. Naveen has again agreed for narco-analysis to ‘prove his innocence’. The lawyer blamed the lack of communication from the investigator’s side for Kumar’s earlier refusal to undergo a narco-analysis test in Gujarat and stated that the police officials failed to inform Kumar about the procedure properly which resulted in refusal from Kumar.
To make matters worse, the SIT is yet to find the murder weapon or any indication that the murder weapon has been destroyed. The SIT has, as of now, arrested Amol Kale from Pune, Amit Degwekar from Goa, Suchit Kumar alias Praveen from Shivamogga and Manohar Edave from Vijayapura in the Gauri Lankesh murder case.
