Killers, Including A Doctor Took Fire Arms Training To Murder Activist Gauri Lankesh

Investigation into the Gauri Lankesh murder case has thrown up another revelation: Around half-a-dozen men, including a Maharashtra-based doctor, had undergone firearms training in an agricultural field at Jamboti village near the forest area of Belagavi district, Karnataka.

The field is owned by Bharat Kurne, the 12th accused in the case. Kurne, 37, was arrested last week and is currently in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) custody. He had reportedly allowed his field to be converted into a firing range, where shooters were trained to handle different weapons.

During investigation, SIT sleuths learnt that the main trainer was Rajesh Bangera, who was arrested in Madikeri last month. Bangera was the personal assistant of a local politician.

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“The training was given during April-May 2013, months before the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune,” sources said. Two bike-borne men had shot him dead on August 20, 2013; the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing the case.

“The training included holding the loaded pistol and aiming at a moving object while running. The shooters were told that by shooting at face or head of the victims, chances of them surviving would be less,” sources said.

The training module also included a discussion on different religions and the threats they faced. One of the trainees is a doctor from Pune and has been arrested by CBI in Dabholkar’s case, sources added.

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The trainees never addressed each other with their original names.

“They used aliases like Chota Mia, Bada Bhai, Bhai Sahab, Kaaka, Maama, Daada, Bandhu and so on. When we showed the doctor’s picture to another accused, he reportedly identified him as one of those who had been trained,” sources said.

The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing the murder of scholar MM Kalburgi, is all set to take into custody four persons arrested in the Gauri case to question them in connection with Kalburgi’s killing.

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Family members of Kalburgi had identified Amol Kale as the person who had knocked on the door and asked for the professor in Marathi.

“Preliminary investigation has revealed that four men, including Kale, had gone near Kalburgi’s house. While two of them waited in a car parked on the adjacent road, two rode a bike to his residence. Kale could be the one on the bike,” SIT sources said.