BENGALURU: Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, who was recently arrested by Special Investigation Team probing Gauri Lankesh murder case, has confessed to his involvement in not just planning and execution of the crime, but also in ensuring that the weapon is shifted from Bengaluru.
Gondhalekar (39) activist from Satara and a member of Shivprathisthan Hindustan, was arrested by Anti Terrorist Squad in Maharashtra after intelligence from Karnataka's SIT. According to a SIT source, Gondhalekar revealed during interrogation that on September 5, 2017, he was in the city, and after Parashuram Waghmare killed Gauri, he allegedly collected the murder weapon from him and handed it over to one H L Suresh.
"Suresh is a resident of Seegehalli and he had given shelter to Amol Kale on the day of the murder. The country-made pistol, after the hit, was first handed over to Suresh by Gondhalekar," the source said.Suresh told SIT officials that he kept the weapon at his residence for a week and then handed it over to one 'Govinda' (Gondhalekar) — an associate of Kale.
"We found that Kale's diary had an entry with the name 'Govinda' and also phone call tracings showed that his phone number was based out of Satara. We alerted Maharashtra ATS and gave them leads on several suspects,” a senior SIT official said.
Acting on this lead, the ATS arrested Gondhalekar along with four others in Nalasopara, on August 10th and booked them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged terror conspiracy. Several country made pistols were recovered from him."Suresh identified Gondhalekar as Govinda and we suspect that there might be a match with the pistols recovered which is being tested at the FSL."