Former Naxal leaders Sirimane Nagaraj and Noor Sridhar have denied the possibility of the role of left-wing extremists (Naxals) in Gauri Lankesh’s murder.
They said that Naxalites were being blamed to “bury the truth”. “Since all suspicions point towards the Hindu right-wing, investigation should begin from them,” they said.
At a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Sridhar said that there was no enmity between Gauri Lankesh and Naxals as suspected by some people. “The CPI (Maoist) is not a mafia. Whenever they have killed someone in the past, they have left a poster owning responsibility and even mentioning the reason for the act,” he said, pointing to differences in the modus operandi .
Mr. Sridhar said it was unfortunate that Vikram Gowda, an alleged member of the Naxal movement, was being falsely accused of the killing by a section of media. He said that the forces that are celebrating the killing of Gauri Lankesh should be probed for their role.
