BENGALURU: Four police teams in two states are working on four high-profile murder cases — M M Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Karnataka and Narendra Dhabolkar and Govind Pansare in Maharashtra. But all the teams are stuck with the same problem — almost absolutely no clues about the attackers since the crimes were committed outdoors.
A senior forensic expert who analysed all four crime scenes, explained why nothing has been helpful for the investigators. “All the murders were in open areas in front of their houses. The approach and attack is similar. But it is very difficult to prove that the assailants involved in all the cases are the same as they did not leave behind any fingerprints or other material evidence at the scene of crime. The attackers did not touch anything, including the victim, during the strike. In they Kalburgi case, they knocked on the door, but no fingerprints were found,” he said.
When a crime is committed inside a building, the scene is usually undisturbed when police cordon it off. In an open area like the courtyard of a house, it is very challenging because neighbours and passersby come around and some evidence like fallen hair, blood marks, footprints of the assailants can be destroyed. In all the four cases, there was no resistance by the victims and the assailants opened fire repeatedly. Investigation officials had to reconstruct the crime to establish the modus operandi. In Gauri’s case, there is a possibility of getting clues from CCTV footage while in previous cases it did not help in gathering concrete evidence, he added.
Why dog squad was not used
Senior police officials decided not to deploy a dog squad at the Gauri Lankesh murder scene as there was no possibility of the canines picking up scents of the attackers, the forensic expert said. But a retired senior police officer said it is mandatory to deploy a dog squad at crime scenes. The dogs could have picked up scents of assailants based on cartridge residue, he felt.
Attackers did not use phones near crime scene
The SIT probing the Gauri murder case on Sunday held discussions with the three investigating agencies probing the previous cases. Teams of senior officials from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are assisting SIT in the case. A senior SIT official SIT said that the killers did not use mobile phones in the locality at the time of executing the crime. It is believed that the SIT’s investigations may also help crack the Kalburgi, Pansare and Dabolkar murder cases. A team is specifically working on tracking the movements of suspects who passed through the surrounding areas on a vehicle.
Activists to hold ‘Resistance Meeting’
A ‘Resistance Meeting’ will be held on Tuesday to condemn the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh. The meeting will urge the government to speed up the probe. The public meeting will see the participation of activists such as Medha Patkar, Jignesh Mevani, lawyer Prashanth Bhushan, Teesta Setalvad and activists from the state. Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, G K Govind Rao, Neenasam Satish and others from the Kannada film industry too are expected to take part.