‘By hurling Gauri’s killers, they emboldened them’: Kavitha Lankesh

Two days after being released on bail, two of the suspects – Parshuram Waghmore, who was allegedly the one who shot Gauri, and Manohar Yadave – were welcomed by local members of Sri Ram Sena. with streamers, orange scarves and chants of celebration after returning to their hometown in Vijayapura, Karnataka.

Another shocking development soon occurred when Srikanth Pangarkar, a suspect in the murder joined the Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Jalna, Maharashtra.

Kavitha also said that since Congress has made a statement, it should go a step further and file a First Information Report (FIR) against those who honored the suspects. “Their motive must be questioned. And we know what the motive is. It means you are Hindutva heroes,” she noted.

Gauri wrote frequently against the rising right-wing Hindu nationalism; through her work she took over the system and the status quo.

Talking about the series of events that ultimately led to Gauri’s murder, Kavitha said:

“I think it was her ongoing fight against Hindutva, one of the speeches that brought a lot of things together. It was every day, when she fought against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and right-wing ideology all the time. The latest was apparently the speech she gave in Mangalore, which was completely misunderstood.”

All these suspects were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Indian Arms Act and the Karnataka Control of Organized Crimes Act, 2000.

On September 4 this year, before the seventh anniversary of Gauri’s murder, four more suspects – Bharat Kurane, Srikanth Pangarkar, Sujith Kumar and Sudhanva Gondhalekar – were again granted bail on the basis of delay in the progress of the trial.

On July 16 this year, accused KT Naveen Kumar, Suresh HL and Amit Degwekar were also granted bail. These petitioners cited the Supreme Court order dated December 7, 2023, in which it granted the first bail in the case to N Mohan Nayak.

They also argued that the prosecution cited 527 witnesses only 130 witnesses had been investigated since the trial began in July 2022.