Gauri Lankesh murder probe: SIT exploring conducting various tests on accused, says official  

The 55-year-old Lankesh, known as an anti-establishment voice with strident anti-right wing views, was shot dead at close range by unknown assailants at her home here on September 5 last year. Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal

The special investigation team probing the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh is exploring the possibility of conducting various tests on the arrested accused to ferret out information about others involved in the crime, a senior police official said on Thursday. “The accused (T Naveen Kumar alias Hotte Manja) has been denying his role in the murder though we are pretty sure that he was part of the crime,” the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.

“We want narco-analysis and other tests be done on him to extract information from him,” he said. The police are gathering information about places where other tests such as brain-mapping and lie-detection tests are conducted besides narco-analysis test. “At this stage, we have not written any letter to anybody for any kind of test. We are only gathering information about the places where the tests can be conducted,” the official said. Police are exploring the possibility of conducting other tests on Kumar as his health condition may hinder the narco test, he said.

A metropolitan magistrate recently gave its go-ahead to the 21-member SIT for subjecting the accused to narco analysis and other tests. On March 9, the SIT had said it arrested alleged gunrunner K T Naveen Kumar, who was taken into police custody on March 2 for interrogation in connection with the case.

The 55-year-old Lankesh, known as an anti-establishment voice with strident anti-right wing views, was shot dead at close range by unknown assailants at her home here on September 5 last year. Later, the government formed the SIT.