Gauri Lankesh murder: Sanathan Sanstha members grilled

Bengaluru: SIT officials have questioned around 15 people, including members of the Sanatan Sanstha, which is under police radar for years now, in journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder case investigation.

Sources privy to the development said that an SIT team is already in Goa, where Sanatan Sanstha’s Ashram is headquartered, while another team is in Mumbai. “The team has already visited the Ashram and SIT officials have spoken to the Sanstha members. They have gathered details required for the probe. Similarly, another team is in Mumbai to question some members of the Sanstha,” an official said.

As the ballistic report suggested that the mechanism of crime and the weapons used in the murders of rationalists Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar, Dr. M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh had striking similarities, the SIT is investigating whether the right wing Hindu group has any links to Gauri’s murder.

Sanatan Sanstha has been in the news for all the wrong reasons for years now, as those owing allegiance to it were arrested in bomb blast cases in the past. The National Investigation Agency had also issued a Red Corner notice against three of its members, including Rudra Patil, who is suspected to be the mastermind behind the Goa blast in 2009. His role was also suspected in the murder of Govind Pansare.

It is learnt that the SIT visited offices of some pro-Hindu outfits in Bengaluru too and questioned its members as part of the probe.