BENGALURU: The four accused in the killing of Gauri Lankesh will soon be shifted to different prisons in the state. Prison officials from Parappana Agrahara on Thursday had approached the special court hearing the Gauri Lankesh case, requesting them to shift Amol Kale, Parashuram Waghmore, Manohar Edave and Amit Digwekar to four different prisons.
“There has been a threat to their lives and keeping all of them under one roof is a matter of concern too. They might even destroy evidence or misguide the court. It is better they are shifted to different prisons,” said an official from the jail authority.
According to sources, Additional Director General of Prisons (ADGP) NS Megharikh has ordered to shift Kale to Mysuru Prisons, Waghmore to Tumkur Jail, Edave to Shimoga central prison and Amit Digwekar to Bellary central prison.
Sources explained that shifting of these alleged killers will not in any way hamper the investigation of the cases. Kale, allegedly involved in the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, lefitist leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur and Scholar MM Kalburgi in Dharwad, is still being interrogated by various agencies like CBI in Pune, ATS and SITs in Maharashtra.
The investigators said they can do video conferencing for the same. “Even if the agencies have to coordinate or interrogate any of these accused, we can do it over video conferencing,” a source from state SIT said.
Meanwhile a Special Court on Thursday granted a 90 day extension in custody of one of the accused, Vikram Bhave in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case to enable the Pune CBI to conduct further investigations. The case is even being probed by the SIT Karnataka as one of the accused Kalakar had confessed to have dismantled and thrown four firearms into a waterbody from a bridge at Thane creek in 2018.
The SIT has secured permission from the Customs, Indian Navy, Coast Guard, State Public Works and environment departments for search and recovery of the dismantled fire arms from the creek. The work will commence in 30 days, said a source.