BENGALURU: The special court conducting the Gauri Lankesh murder trial in Bengaluru recorded the examination of two material witnesses on Wednesday, the third day of the trial.
A cable operator, who was the first to notice the body of the slain journalist was examined by the prosecution team led by advocate S Balan and cross-examined by the defence team led by Gangadhara Shetty and Krishna Murthy. (Name of witnesses are withheld in KCOCA cases).
The cable operator was called to rectify the cable in Gauri’s house. He arrived only to find her murdered in the compound.
Another witness examined was a watchman who lived in a building opposite Lankesh's residence in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. A mason by profession, he had just returned home that fateful evening on 5 September, 2017 to the building where his wife was employed as security when he allegedly heard gunshots and saw the scene of the crime after other people had arrived on the spot.
Gauri was assassinated outside her residence by two bike-borne men at 8.30 pm. The special investigation team (SIT) headed by IPS officer BK Singh had arrested 18 men in connection with Gauri's murder case under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Karnataka Organised Crime Act and the Arms Act (KCOCA).
The SIT had stated in court that Gauri was assassinated because of her anti-Hindutva stand in her speeches and writing. The investigation in her murder case had given strong leads in the assassination cases of progressive writers and thinkers like MM Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra.