Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jitendra Awhad on Sunday said investigating agencies could have prevented the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh if they had taken more pains to question Virendra Tawde, the Sanatan Sanstha member arrested for planning the murder of Narendra Dabholkar.
Mr. Tawde was arrested by the CBI in the Dabholkar case on June 10, 2016, and Lankesh was killed on September 5, 2017. The CBI said in court on Sunday that the two murders were linked.
Mr. Awhad said, “Going by the investigating agencies, Tawde plotted the murder of Dabholkar, and Amol Kale plotted the murder of Lankesh. If the same pistol was used in both murders, it was obvious that Tawde knew about the attack on Lankesh when he was arrested. The investigating agencies failed to bring out the truth. Had they done this, they could have saved Lakesh’s life.”
Mr. Tawde was also questioned by a Special Investigation Team of the Maharashtra Police in the murder of communist leader Govind Pansare. Since the Karnataka Police have arrested Mr. Kale, the alleged plotter of the Lankesh murder, the Maharashtra ATS has arrested several people for planning attacks in the State and seized explosives and ammunition from them. The CBI has arrested Sachin Andure, an alleged shooter of Dabholkar.
Mr. Awhad said, “The State police seem to be working under political pressure. A joint effort of the Karnataka and Maharashtra police is needed to get to the truth.”
