Gauri Lankesh, Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi were killed with same pistol, suggests probe

Bengaluru: Journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh and noted Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi were possibly killed with the same weapon, a 7.65 mm country-made pistol, preliminary findings of the  Forensic Sciences Laboratory have suggested.

"Given our wherewithal, we could establish an 80% similarity in the weapon used in the two crimes," the ToI quoted a source having access to the preliminary report as saying on Wednesday.

Renowned Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi was gunned down by unknown assailants in August 2015 at his Dharwad residence. 

Forensic investigation into the Kalburgi murder case had established that the pistol used to kill the Kannada scholar was the same that was used to gun down communist leader Govind Pansare in Maharashtra, a few months earlier.

Meanwhile, the preliminary report is likely to be submitted to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) today which is probing the Gauri Lankesh murder case. 

About 80 people from different parts of Bengaluru and other districts, including Maoist-affected areas, have been questioned by the SIT in connection with the case so far.

The SIT is believed to be looking for an unidentified person who had visited Lankesh's house thrice the day she was murdered on September 5.

The suspect wearing a black helmet, was captured by the two CCTV cameras facing the road - Gauri's house has two other cameras - first at 3.27 pm.

He was seen wearing a white formal shirt with long sleeves and riding a motorcycle, in the footage. 

The footage showed the man arriving from the right side of the road, and making a U-turn about 10 feet from the gate.

On his third visit, the suspect had a black sling bag in which he possibly carried the murder weapon, according to the investigators.

The 55-year-old editor of Kannada weekly tabloid by her name "Gauri Lankesh Patrike" was gunned down by unidentified men outside her home in the city suburb on September 5.