Three held in Gauri Lankesh case released

Three men from Mandya district, who were arrested by the Special Investigation Team in connection with the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, have been released recently.

They are Girish of Hemmanahalli in Maddur taluk, Abhilash of Kestur and Anil Kumar of Srirangapatna.

The police had arrested them, suspecting them to be accomplices of K T Naveen Kumar, a suspect in the case.

Speaking to reporters, Girish said, "The police told us that Naveen Kumar was arrested while selling bullets near Majestic in Bengaluru on February 18. But, Naveen told us that he was arrested on February 14, when he was at his wife's place in Birur. Based on the information given by Naveen, the police arrested Anil Kumar on February 14 and Abhilash and me on February 15".

"The police took us to an unidentified place, after blindfolding us. We found that we were at a hotel, where Naveen was also present. They thrashed Naveen and asked us to confess before the judge that Naveen gave us some training in Gauri Lankesh's murder case. When we declined, we were also assaulted. However, when we were produced before the judge, we did not say anything as forced by the police and started crying. The judge, who was angry with the police, ordered our release," he said.

"The police filed a case of moving in a suspicious manner in Jnanabharathi police station limits (in Bengaluru) and released us. They are trying to frame Naveen in Gauri Lankesh murder case. Just because we had spoken to Naveen over cellphone, they are trying to make us witnesses against him. I have decided to write a letter in this regard to the judge as we are facing a life threat," Girish said.

However, Superintendent of Police G Radhika said, "I have no information on the arrest of four accused from the district in Gauri Lankesh murder case".