Right-wing Sanatan Sanstha has admitted that Rishikesh Devadikar, who has been arrested by the Karnataka police for the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, was its member. However, the organisation said that he was not active for nearly a decade’s time.
“We have come to know that Karnataka police has arrested Rishikesh Devadikar in relation to the Gauri Lankesh murder case. We are enquiring more about this matter,” Sanatan Sanstha national spokesperson Chetan Rajhans said in a statement.
He added that according to the information received, Devadikar was involved in the Sanstha's activities some years back; but he has not been active for the last 8-10 years.
“We also came to know that he was working in some other organisation in the meantime. It is totally inappropriate to blame Sanatan Sanstha when someone involved in Sanatan's activities long back gets arrested in a case now,” Rajhans said.
“Sanatan Sanstha informs through this press release that it has no connection with any murder case at all,” the statement added.