BENGALURU: Three days after journalist Gauri Lankesh was gunned down at her residence, Bengaluru police are yet to get any credible information that can lead them to her killers. While the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by inspector general of police (IG) started the probe on Thursday by visiting her residence to gather information, sources in the department said the police have not managed to get any clue about assailants or even the motive in last three days.
“It is a challenging case. The team is not even sure about number of assailants. No clue was found at the spot except empty cartridges. The CCTV footage too has not given any leads to them,'' an officer told the New Indian Express. “It is more complicated than the murder case of the Prof Kalburgi as motive there was very clear. ''
The CCTV footage had a person wearing black jacket and helmet firing at her. However, the person’s face is not clearly visible in the video nor is his vehicle, the police are said. They, however, are examining footage CCTVs at different locations to gather information.
On Thursday, the team had picked up a cable TV operator and two others based on call details on Gauri's mobile phone. Police said as per the call records , the cable TV operator had called Gauri. They were let off after questioning for two hours.
A senior officer said the SIT is going through call records, details in her laptop and a diary that was found at her residence.
Meanwhile officers in the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) said they are yet to receive the empty cartridges, bullets, CCTV footage or any materials for examination. Four rounds were fired at Gauri from a close range. She died on the spot as her heart was ruptured due to a bullet injury, while two bullets entered her abdomen. The body had three entry and exit marks as bullets had passed through the body. The bullet that ruptured her heart was fired from behind. Postmortem was conducted at Victoria Hospital.