Right-wing critic, senior journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead in Bengaluru

A staunch critic of Hindutva politics, Lankesh was convicted last year in a defamation case by BJP

Senior Kannada journalist and social activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead on Tuesday night by unidentified men at her residence, police said. She was 55.

"She was shot dead from a close range at her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar (in the suburbs) around 8 pm as she was entering the house," Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar told reporters here.

"A total of seven bullets were fired out of which four missed the target and hit the wall of the house. Three bullets had hit her -- two in her chest area and one in the forehead," he said.

Her brother Indrajit Lankesh