The Karnataka Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the murders of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh and rationalist MM Kalburgi are awaiting ballistic reports on a pistol that was recovered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in the Arabian Sea bed. The pistol was found during a search operation for the weapons used in the murders of anti superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, CPI leader Govind Pansare, rationalist MM Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lanesh.
The pistol was recovered from the sea bed off Kharegaon Creek in Maharashtra’s Thane on March 5. The CBI is probing Narendra Dabholkar’s murder; the Maharashtra SIT is probing Govind Pansare’s murder; and the Karnataka SIT is investigating Kalburgi and Gauri’s murders. The three agencies had decided to enlist the help of specialised divers from Norway to look for the pistols used in the four murders, sources with the Karnataka SIT said.
Over three months ago, a Dubai-based company named Envitec Marine Consultants Pvt Ltd bought equipment from Norway and specialised divers began the search operation along the creek in Thane.
SIT sources say that the Maharahstra Anti-Terrorism Squad had in May 2018 arrested Sharad Kalaskar in connection with a huge cache of arms from Nalasopara in Mumbai.
In June 2018, Sharad Kalaskar allegedly confessed to the Karnataka SIT that he had shot Narendra Dabholkar twice in the head.
He also allegedly told the investigators that his handlers -- Rushikesh Deodikar and a lawyer named Sanjay Punalekar, advised him to dispose of the murder weapons in connection with the Dabholkar, Pansare, Gauri and Kalburgi murders in 2017. Sharad Kalaskar allegedly received this order after the Karnataka SIT arrested multiple suspects in connection with Gauri’s murder. Sharad Kalaskar had allegedly told the Karnataka SIT after his arrest that he had dumped two pistols that were in his possession, into the creek at Thane.
“The divers were using various methods to look for the weapons and they recovered one pistol. Search is still on for the other weapon as well. It is a 7.65 mm pistol we recovered and was sent for ballistics testing. The report is awaited,” an investigating officer said.
Sources with the SIT say that hiring the divers to find the pistol cost the investigators around Rs 7 crore. “We are waiting to see if the murder weapon was the same one used to kill Dabholkar, Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh or whether they were used to kill Govind Pansare,” the source added.
The Karnataka SIT has arrested 18 people in connection with Gauri Lankesh’s murder. All the accused persons in the case are allegedly members of the Hindu Janajagruthi Samiti, a sister organisation of Sanathan Sanstha. During the probe, the investigators arrested the mastermind in Gauri’s murder case -- Amol Kale. They found that Amol Kale had allegedly hatched a plot to kill 36 other people whom he had considered anti-Hindu.