The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka Police probing the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh arrested a 37-year-old vegetable farmer who runs a small dhaba in Belagavi on Thursday, 9 August, on charges of playing a central role in the execution of the crime.
The SIT’s probe has found that Bharat Kurne alias Tomatar was part of a two-man team which waited in a car for the shooter and an accomplice to finish the murder and drove them away to a safehouse on the outskirts of Bengaluru, The Indian Express reported.
Sources in SIT told The Indian Express that Kurne was part of the four-man team involved in executing Lankesh’s murder and allegedly has links to a Hindutva fringe group in Maharashtra.
This is the 12th arrest made by the SIT out of the 13 named for planning and executing Lankesh’s murder.
The arrest comes roughly a fortnight after the SIT arrested the 11th accused, a 36-year-old private school teacher, who had helped the accused in locating Lankesh’s house.
Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar on the night of 5 September, 2017. She had sustained three bullet wounds which proved fatal.
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