Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (MS)
Bengaluru, Oct 31: Special court of the city has framed charges against 18 accused arrested in connection with the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was killed by assailants in front of her house at Rajarajeshwari Nagar in September 2017.
In the court session that was held through video conferencing, the charges were read to the accused in Kannada and Marathi languages.
The court will specify dates for beginning the trial proceedings in the next hearing scheduled for December 8.
Charges under various sections of IPC, Arms Act and Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act have been framed against Amol Kale, Parashuram Ashok Wagmore, Ganesh Miskin, Amit Ramachandra Baddi, Amit Digvekar, Bharath Kurane, Suresha H L alias Teacher, Rajesh D Bangera alias Sir, Sudhanwa Gondalekar alias Pandji alias Gujjar alias Mahesh Patil, Sharad alias Sharad Kalaskar, N Mohan Nayak alias Sampanje, Vasudeva Bhagawan Suryavamshi alias Vasu alias Mechanic, Sujit Kumar alias Sujit S R alias Sajaya alias Manjunatha, Manohara Dundeppa Edave alias Manoja, Vikas Patil alias Dada alias Nihal, Srikanth Jagannath Pangarkar alias Praji, K T Naveen Kumar and Hrishikesh Devadakar alias Murali alias Shiva.
The accused are lodged in various prisons and therefore not everyone could the inquiry, because of which the session was getting postponed. Therefore, judge A B Katti of chief metropolitan civil and sessions court had ordered the concerned authorities on September 22 to bring all the accused to Parappana Agrahara prison in the city from prisons of Bellary, Tumkur, Mysuru and Shivamogga.
Along with these accused, those who are lodged in Arthur Road prison in Mumbai were presented before the judge through video conferencing.
Following the murder on September 5, 2017, a special investigation team (SIT) was formed to solve the murder case which went on to arrest 18 persons, all of them allegedly affiliated to right-wing groups. According to SIT's findings, Gauri was shot to death by bullets fired by Parashuram Waghmare. While Amol Kale has been named as accused number one, Amit Degwekar and Sujith Kumar have been named as the prime conspirators who plotted the murder.