Breaking his silence on the Gauri Lankesh murder probe, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the culprits will be brought to justice. Addressing the winter session of the legislative assembly, he called the murder an ‘onslaught on humanity’ and assured that the government was honest in its efforts to find out the ones responsible for Lankesh’s murder.
It is a cruel death...it is an onslaught on humanity.CM Siddaramaiah in an obituary reference to Lankesh in the House
Leader of Opposition Jagadish Shettar demanded that the culprits be nabbed at the earliest. Asserting that the State Home Minister had earlier said that the investigation team had got clues about the killers, the BJP leader said, "Reveal it and clear the air. No attempt should be made to blame someone unnecessarily."
Gauri Lankesh was shot dead by unknown assasilants outside her residence on 6 September. The state government has announced Rs 10 lakh reward for anyone giving clues about perpetrators of the crime.
The SIT had on 14 October released the sketches of two suspects and video footage from CCTV cameras in connection with the case, and had sought people’s help in nabbing the accused.
Also, speaking of the killing of rationalist M M Kalburgi, the Chief Minister said that the government was taking all efforts to track down his killers as well. Kalburgi was gunned down by two unidentified men at his residence at Dharwad in north Karnataka on 30 August 2015.
Besides Lankesh, the House also paid tributes to former and sitting members of the legislature and eminent people, including former Chief Minister Dharam Singh, MLAs Qamarul Islam and Chikkamadu, and former ISRO chief U R Rao, who passed away during the inter-session period.
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