Gauri Lankesh murder: 60 recruited by ‘Hindutva’ outfit for covert activities in last 5 years, reveals SIT

At least 60 people were recruited from various cities of Karnataka by the Hindutva outfit in last five years for carrying out violent activities in the state, investigative team probing the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh found. According to the Special Investigative Team, all of the recruited people shared a mutual feeing of inciting communal agenda and had participated in violent activities like stone throwing, arson or murders at some point of time.

Apart from Lankesh’s murder, SIT revealed that these persons triggered communal tension in Belgaum in November 2017, and were also responsible for disrupting the Deepika Padukone starer movie Padmavat. Sources revealed that half of them have been identified by SIT and a report has been submitted to the internal security department of Karnataka police for action, reports The Indian  Express.

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Among the six men arrested by SIT for allegedly killing Lankesh on September 5, 2017, all were linked to Sanatan Sanstha, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), Hindu Yuva Sena and Sri Rama Sena. Out of the six arrested, four of them – Sujeet Kumar from Udupi, Manohar Edave from Vijayapura, Amol Kale from Pune and  Amit Degwekar from Goa – allegedly recruited dozens of youth from Karnataka, says SIT.

However, Parashuram Waghmare from Vijayapura, who allegedly gunned down Lankesh, was a former Sri Rama Sena worker, while K T Naveen Kumar from Maddur was the logistics for the murder.  The SIT gathered the details while probing material found in the possession of Sujeet Kumar and Amol Kale, who were allegedly responsible for recruiting people for covert activities.

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According to SIT, Waghmare, who allegedly shot Lankesh, was also associated with a case in 2012 for hoisting Pakistani flag to trigger communal disturbance in Sindhagi town in Vijayapura. He was identified by Sujeet Kumar to carry out for HJS in Vijayapura after his release from prison in 2014.

With the covert Hindutva group rise in state, SIT sources say that these groups were also involved in similar activities in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh and might be the possible reincarnation of Dharma Shakti Sena – disbanded after the 2009 blast in Madgaon in Goa. As per the revelations by SIT,these outfits not only provide arms to people, but also train them in making bombs and give them self-defence training to protect’Hindu dharma’. With the latest addition of covert groups, the SIT is of the belief that they have changed outfit name and are trying to avoid the attention of security agencies.