Gauri Lankesh's case similar to that of Kalburgi: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have raised questions over the efficiency of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was formed to look into the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, and hoped that the case doesn't meet the same fate as the probe of M. M. Kalburgi's murder in 2015.

Party leader GVL Narshimha Rao said, "We hope that the SIT made to look after the murder of Gauri Lankesh doesn't end up as a botched up investigation like that of Kalburgi two and a half years ago."

Moreover, Rao took a jibe at the Congress government in the state and pointed out their ineffectiveness at solving such cases.

"The previous claims and promises by the Congress proved to be ineffective. They haven't been able to arrest even a single person in the Kalburgi killing. Will it have the same investigation as the Kalburgi case?" Rao asked, adding, "The lack of action makes us believe that this government is interested in only politics and not in serious investigations."

BJP leader S. Prakash also compared the senior journalist's murder to the Kalburgi case.

"Two years have passed since the Kalburgi case and nothing has been found out yet. I am afraid that this might go the Kalburgi way as well," he said.

He added that such incidents spoil the name of the state and these matters must be looked into.

An SIT comprising of 19 officers, headed by IGP Intelligence B.K. Singh, has been formed to probe Gauri Lankesh's murder.

Senior journalist Lankesh was shot dead on Tuesday at her residence in Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar by some unidentified assailants at around 8-8:30 p.m.

As per the reports, three bullets were pumped in her body.

Her last rites were held at Bengaluru's Chamrajpet Cemetery earlier in the day.

Lankesh was the editor of the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, a tabloid described as an "anti-establishment" publication.