The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh made its 14th arrest in the case on Monday. Srikant Pangarkar, a former Shiv Sena councillor of Jalna Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra, has been remanded into SIT custody till September 28.
In August, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad — acting on intelligence provided by the SIT — had recovered a cache of arms in Nalasopara and arrested Pangarkar for his alleged links to the case. According to SIT sources, he was identified based on information from Amol Kale's diary in which he was referred to as ‘Praji’.
Kale, the suspected kingpin and one of the masterminds in the murder of Gauri, has also been arrested by the CBI in connection with the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.
A senior SIT official said the other accused in the Gauri case had told the police that Srikant Pangarkar had attended a few of their meetings in Maharashtra, and in Belagavi. The meetings had allegedly been held to plot her assassination. “His exact role in the execution of the conspiracy will be known only after his interrogation,” an official said.
Amol Kale was constantly in touch with Srikant in the months before and after September 5, 2017 when Gauri was shot. “From July 2017 to May 2018, Amol Kale's Call Detail Record (CDR) shows the two had over 1,200 calls in a span of 10 months. That amounts to four calls per day on an average, indicating how involved Srikant was in the conspiracy,” an official said.
Suspected arms procurer
Investigations till now have revealed that Srikant, who held the post of councillor between 2001 and 2011, quit the Shiv Sena in 2011. He was one of the founding members of the unnamed organisation that allegedly planned and carried out hits on four rationalists and critics of right-wing Hindutva. The Maharashtra ATS and CBI have told courts in Maharashtra that they suspect he was the main funder and the person who organised arms and ammunition for the gang.
According to the SIT probe, Srikant’s CDR showed that he often visited Sendhwa, a town in Madhya Pradesh near the Maharashtra border, a hub for country-made pistols.
To date, the Maharashtra ATS and CBI have seized 11 country-made pistols of which five were made by the gang. Srikant allegedly played a key role in procuring the remaining six country-made pistols.
“We suspect that two of the six pistols were used to kill the rationalists [Lankesh, Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi] between 2013 and 2017,” said an officer, adding that they are waiting for the ballistic report from the Mumbai FSL.
Was he in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017?
Investigators suspect that Srikant Pangarkar was in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017, the day Gauri Lankesh was assassinated.
Unknown to the hit team, Amol Kale had a separate recce team working for him. Sudhanva Gondhalekar, a member of this second team, was recently arrested by the SIT after CCTV footage placed him near Gauri's house hours before her murder.
The biker who recced her house is yet to be identified. Police suspect Srikant was also a part of this second team. However, only his interrogation will confirm this, sources said.
