Gauri Lankesh murder: 7 Leftist thinkers’ names in the diary of accused

BENGALURU: One of the four persons arrested on Thursday in connection with the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh had used 74 sim cards in one of the 22 mobile phones recovered from him, sources in the special investigation team (SIT) said.


Investigators recovered the cards and phones from the room of Amol Kale alias Bai Sab, 37, in Pune. The sim cards, most of which were purchased in Pune and other parts of Maharashtra and some in

Belagavi

, were used between October 2017 and Kale’s arrest recently.

SIT sleuths have also recovered a diary from Kale’s room. It contains the names of seven intellectuals from Karnataka, known for their

leftist

views and writings, sources said. Written in Marathi and English, the diary contains the names, residential address, profession and other details of the seven intellectuals.

A resident of Chinchwad in Pune, Kale has been working with a right wing organization with branches in Maharashtra and Goa.

“After Gauri’s murder, the government had given police security to 27 persons, including leftists, writers and poets. The intellectuals named in Kale’s diary were among the 27. However, the security was withdrawn for most of the them after the assembly elections were announced,” police sources said.

SIT sources said they may seek court permission to subject Kale to narcoanalysis. “We strongly suspect that he has vital information in the Gauri case, but he’s cooperating with the investigation. If he refuses to do so, we will subject him to narcoanalysis,” sources said.