BENGALURU: Noted journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her residence in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in west Bengaluru on Tuesday evening.Police said unidentified assailants, suspected to have come on a two-wheeler, fired at least four times at her soon after she got out of her car and opened the gate. Police said Gauri (55), editor of ‘Gauri Lankesh’, a Kannada weekly tabloid, was at her office in Basavanagudi till 7.30 pm and had reached her residence a little after 8pm. Neighbours who heard the gun shots came out to see what happened and alerted the police after seeing her lying in a pool of blood. Police said initial investigation suggested there were two to three assailants.
A senior police officer said the assailants may have followed her from some distance and as soon as she got down from the car they fired at her from close range. Gauri, who sustained bullet injuries in her chest, died on the spot, the officer said.Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said three special teams have been formed to nab the assailants. He said Gauri had never sought police protection nor complained about any threats.
Police are examining her call records and also gathering information from people with whom she had interacted over the last few days. Police said they hope to get more clues about the attackers from CCTV cameras installed outside her residence.
Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who visited the spot, said it is too early to draw any connection with murders of rationalists in other parts of the country.Gauri was the older daughter of legendary journalist P Lankesh, who started the ‘Lankesh Patrike’, the first Kannada tabloid. Gauri is survived by her mother Indira Lankesh and siblings Kavitha and Indrajit.She was a fierce activist when it came to rights of dalits and the poor. She was involved in the rehabilitation of Naxalites who were attempting to return to the mainstream. An anti-establishment figure and a critic of BJP and right-wing groups, she was recently found guilty in a defamation case filed by two BJP leaders in Hubballi.