Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Dec 9: The arms dealer who allegedly sold weapons to the killers of journalist Gauri Lankesh was arrested by the Karnataka police on Friday December 8.
Home minister Ramalinga Reddy told media persons that the dealer identified as Tahir Hussain sold arms to a contract killer Sashidar. "We are waiting for a ballistic report to connect Gauri's case with the two accused, Tahir and Sashidhar," said Reddy.
On December 5, Bengaluru Central Crime Bramch (CCB) arrested a 31-year-old Tahir Hussain (alias Anup Gowda), a native of Chikkaballapur.
Gauri Lankesh
According to CCB press release, Tahir Hussain was arrested from a lodge near the Parappana Agrahara region, under the Arms Act. He had planned to kidnap a financier in Yelahanka. He has a known criminal record – cases registered against him in the past from Bengaluru to Meeraj in Maharashtra.
Link with Ravi Belagere case?
After Tahir, another sharp shooter Sashidar Mundewadi was arrested. He had bought a 7.65 mm gun from Tahir Hussain. Sashidhar was arrested as he was preparing for a similar killing allegedly plotted by popular tabloid editor Ravi Belegere to eliminate his own colleague.
What links Tahir and Sashidhar in Gauri’s and Kalburgi’s murder is the gun recovered. The guns seized from them are 7.65 mm bore country-made type, same make as the one used in both Lankesh and M M Kalburgi’s killings.
As Tahir and Sashidhar have a criminal history and as Sashidhar had taken ‘supari’ to kill another journalist in a manner similar to Gauri, the SIT is probing to find if there is a connection between them and the murders that shook the nation.
Gauri Lankesh was shot dead at close range by unknown assailants at her home in Bengaluru on the night of September 5.
Karnataka government had constituted the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and also announced Rs 10 lac reward for anyone giving clues about the perpetrators of the crime.
The SIT has been struggling for a breakthrough the last three months. With CCTV footage of almost 75 TB and some eye-witnesses, it was challenging to zero down on the killers.
The SIT till now established that Lankesh’s killer, who was riding pillion on a bike and wearing helmet all along, had gone scouting twice on September 5. Once around 3 pm and again around 7 pm, before their final visit at 8 pm when they caught her off-guard as she got out of her car to open the gates to her home.
She was shot four times from point-blank range – and all of this was captured on the CCTV camera outside her own home.
No Connection between Ravi Belagare and Gauri murder - Reddy
Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that senior journalist Ravi Belagere has been apprehended as part of the investigation process of a different case. There is no connection between him, his case and Gauri’s murder.
While questioning the arms dealer, it was found he sells arms similar to that used to kill Gauri.
Only after the ballistic report, it can be ascertained if Tahir and Sashidhar are connected to Gauri’s killing, he said.