6 months on, 1st arrest in Lankesh murder case

The Special Investigation Team, probing the murder, said it arrested alleged gunrunner KT Naveen Kumar, who was taken into police custody on March 2 for interrogation in connection with the case. 

This is the first arrest in the case after the 55-year old Lankesh, known as an anti-establishment voice with strident anti-right wing views, was shot dead at close range by unknown assailants at her home here on September 5 last year. 

“He has been arrested. He is an accused,” Deputy Commissioner of Police MN Anucheth, the investigating officer said. Police said Kumar, in his 30s, was suspected to be linked with a fringe right-wing radical group. 

Initially, he was arrested on February 19 on charges of illegally possessing five bullets. A case under the Arms Act was then registered against him and he was remanded to judicial custody by a court. 

Subsequently after interrogation, he was taken into eight-days custody by the SIT for suspected links in the Lankesh murder case. Kumar’s family has maintained that he was innocent and in no way connected to the case.