Hindutva chauvinist who allegedly sold bike to Gauri Lankesh’s killers arrested

coastaldigest.com news network
August 31, 2018

Bengaluru, Aug 31: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, has detained a man from Ganeshpura in Belagavi on the charge of selling the bike used in the crime.

Sagar Lakhe, who owns a nursery in Ganeshpura, was arrested on Wednesday based on information provided by Bharat Kurne, a hotelier, who was arrested on August 8 in the Gauri murder case, police sources said.

“We found there were many telephonic conversations between Sagar and Bharat. The duo belonged to a Kolhapur-based Hindutva fringe group Shiv Prathishtan and was in Bengaluru on the previous day and on the day of the killing,” an officer said.

The bike was allegedly financed by Sanatan Sanstha, now under close watch of the SIT, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) teams. Confirming a well-planned murder, whose mastermind Amol Kale — also known as Bhaisab — had raised two teams to target Gauri, one with Sudhanva Gondalkar and Sharad Khalaskar, and the other with Ganesh Miskin and Parashuram Waghmore.

Amol Kale’s diary and interrogation clearly showed the original date planned for Gauri’s killing was September 4.However, when the first team visited her house, Gauri was apparently inside the house already and hence they could not finish the ‘task’.

Later, Kale who was not confident of the first team decided to send the second team. The SIT also recovered a CCTV footage near Sunrise Residency Apartments which shows Sudhanva Gondalkar and anotherhelmet-borne man, whom the team believes to be Sharad Khalaskar.

The same men arrived at Gauri’s house twice once on September 4 to kill her and on September 5 around 3.45 pm to see if she was home or not. “The duo was on a different bike near a park next to Gauri’s house,” said the officer.

The SIT petitioned the court to gain custody of Gondalkar and Khalaskar to interrogate them. The two were among five arrested by Maharashtra’s ATS earlier in August in Nalasopara.The ATS had uncovered a huge cache of arms, including IEDs,pistols and equipment to build crude bombs.

The SIT believes the pistol used to kill Gauri may be one of the 18 seized by the ATS. Sleuths suspect the one with Sachin Andure, recovered from his cousin Rohit Reghe in Aurangabad, could be the one used in the crime.

“We have the CCTV footage which clearly showed a Pulsar bike that was used in the crime. The footage shows the same bike present on two days near Gauri’s house — once on September 4 in the afternoon when Gauri was already inside the house, and on September 5 when she was killed,” an officer confirmed.

Comments

accept the truth..no need to spread lie...you are the people who spread curruption, crime and fitna throughout india..remember you have to die one day and all your karma is answerable..

Dharma
 - 
Friday, 31 Aug 2018

Rubbish.. Media spreading lies. Unnecessary issues making by giveing irrelevant matters. Media trying to make link with our group sanatan sanstha

Naresh
 - 
Friday, 31 Aug 2018

If the bike seller doesnt know the purpose and the criminals then how these people arrested him. There is a chance

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News Network
December 2,2025

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Bengaluru: 'Nati koli saaru' (country chicken curry) considered one of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s favourites along with steaming hot idlis was on the breakfast menu at Deputy CM D K Shivakumar’s residence on Tuesday, according to official sources.

The spread also included 'nati koli' fry, vada and pongal, among other items, they said.

In an apparent show of unity, Siddaramaiah visited Shivakumar’s residence for breakfast, just days after the two leaders shared a meal amid a simmering power tussle in the state Congress.

Siddaramaiah drove to the Deputy CM’s residence in Sadashivanagar, where he was received by Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh, who is a former Congress MP.

Suresh and Kunigal MLA H D Ranganath, a relative of Shivakumar, joined them for breakfast, which featured a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

Speaking to reporters later, Siddaramaiah said Shivakumar had invited him during his visit to the CM’s residence for breakfast on Saturday.

Asked about the difference between the two meals, the chief minister said, "At his (Shivakumar’s) house it was non-veg, while at my house it was veg. He is a vegetarian, I am a non-vegetarian. I had not prepared non-veg. I told DK to get chicken from the village as you won’t get the original in Bengaluru."

Shivakumar said he had initially invited Siddaramaiah to his residence, but the CM had suggested visiting his place first and reciprocating later. "It was a vegetarian breakfast at the CM’s house on Saturday," he noted.

"Today, I invited him (the CM) to my house. He enjoyed the breakfast, which had his Mysuru taste," Shivakumar added. At this point, Siddaramaiah remarked that Shivakumar’s wife is also from Mysuru.

Saturday’s breakfast at Siddaramaiah’s official residence, held as part of efforts by the Congress high command to ease tensions in the leadership dispute between the two, reportedly included idlis and sambar, according to official sources.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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News Network
December 3,2025

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Mangaluru, Dec 3: A group of Congress workers gathered at the Mangaluru International Airport on Wednesday to welcome AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, but the reception quickly turned into a display of support for Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

Venugopal arrived in the city to participate in the centenary commemoration of the historic dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and Narayana Guru. The event, organised by the Sivagiri Mutt, Varkala, in association with the Mangalore University Sri Narayana Guru Study Chair, is being held on the university’s Konaje campus.

KPCC general secretary Mithun Rai and several party workers had assembled at the airport to receive Venugopal. However, the moment he stepped out, workers began raising slogans backing Shivakumar.

The university programme will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

This show of support comes just a day after Siddaramaiah remarked that Shivakumar would lead the government “when the high command decides.” The chief minister made the comment after a breakfast meeting at Shivakumar’s residence—another public display of camaraderie between the two leaders amid ongoing attempts by the party high command to downplay their leadership rivalry.

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