Shrikant Pangarkar, one of the accused in the horrific murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, has joined the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena ahead of Assembly elections in the state. Shrikant reportedly took the party’s oath in the presence of party leader and former state minister Arjun Khotkar.
The move comes days after Parshuram Waghmore, who is accused of shooting Gauri, and co-accused Manohar Yadve were felicitated by the Sangh Parivar and Shri Rama Sene in Vijayapura on October 11, after their release on bail.
Gauri was murdered on September 5, 2017 by a team of 18 Hindutva loyalists led by engineer-turned-murderer Amol Kale. She was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar. Shrikant was charged in 2021 alongside Amol (prime accused), Amit Degwekar, Sujith Kumar, Ganesh Miskin, Amith Badd, Bharath Kurane, Suresh HL, Rajesh Bangera, Sudhanva Gondalekar, Sharad Kalaskar, Mohan Nayak, Vasudev Suryavamshi, Manohara Edave, Naveen Kumar and Rushikesh Deodikar.
According to the chargesheet, Shrikant Pangarkar briefed all the accused on the precautions they were to undertake before, during, and after the murder. He also gave them legal training and told them what to do in case they got caught. Bharat Kurane bought Ganesh Miskin and Parashuram Waghmore the clothes they would use for the murder.
In total, 8 of the accused are now out on bail. Shrikant was released on bail earlier this year by the Karnataka High Court, on September 4, along with Bharat Kurane, Sujith Kumar, Sudhanva Gondalekar. It’s to be noted that the murder-accused were released just a day before Gauri's seventh death anniversary.
Read: 8 men accused of killing Gauri Lankesh are now out on bail. Here’s their role in the conspiracy
According to India Today, Shrikant was part of the undivided Shiv Sena until 2006. In 2011, after the Shiv Sena reportedly denied him a ticket to contest elections, he joined the Hindu Janajagruti Samit, where he met co-conspirators in Gauri’s murder.
In 2018, Shrikant along with two others (Vaibhav Raut and Sharad Kalaska) were arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for possessing a large cache of arms and explosives. At the time, as per a report in The Hindu, an ATS official told media persons, “We raided the centres where the accused received training in bomb making, and made a list of people targeted by them. The group was conspiring to throw bombs at Bhanu Sagar talkies and Prakash talkies in Belgaum where Padmavat was released.” The Hindu further reports that Shrikant had been responsible for scouting potential targets including the electro-dance Sunburn Festival in Pune that year.
Shrikant will now be in charge of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s poll campaign in Jalna Assembly constituency. Shrikant, according to reports, has asked to be fielded as the Jalna candidate, but this remains unclear at present as seat-sharing in the Mahayuti alliance (BJP, NCP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena) is yet to be announced.
Earlier this week, rumours surfaced that former zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede would be contesting in Dharavi on a Sena ticket. However, the party denied these rumours to media persons on October 17. Sameer, it may be recalled, was the officer who arrested Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in 2021.