Senior journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru on Tuesday night by unidentified gunmen who reportedly fired seven bullets, three of those hitting the 55- year-old outspoken journalist.
Ms Lankesh was the publisher of Kannada language newspaper Gauri Lankesh Patrike though which she fiercely opposed the hardline Hindu groups aligned with India’s right wing ruling party, the BJP.
Police say the motive behind the murder is not known.
Gauri Lankesh was shot dead near her house in Bengaluru on TuesdayF Source: Facebook
Her murder has sparked outrage among journalists and advocates of free speech who held protest demonstrations in many cities across India.
Protests by journalists, activists, civil society #Hyderabad calling murder of #GauriLankesh silencing of democracy pic.twitter.com/G85qcqi1nb — Uma Sudhir (@umasudhir) September 6, 2017
Hundreds of journalists gathered in the Press Club of India in New Delhi as a mark of protest against the killing calling it a "brutal assault on the freedom of the press".
Many social workers, journalists, activists, scientists, film and theatre actors came together to assert their “right to dissent” on Wednesday in Mumbai.
“Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and now Gauri Lankesh. There’s a trend emerging from these murders — of not just silencing but killing people who speak their mind,” said well-known film actor Shabana Azmi.
Ministers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet condemned the killing, calling on the Karnataka state government to investigate the crime and bring those behind it to justice.
In recent weeks, Lankesh had criticised India’s Narendra Modi government’s economic policies and the rise of hardline Hindu groups since he came to power. She was also critical of the government over its handling of the Rohingya Muslim refugees.
Last year, she was sentenced to six months in jail after in a defamation case filed by a BJP MP.
A senior cabinet minister rejected allegations against BJP and its affiliate groups and slammed the opposition Congress party for linking it to the crime.
"The present government, the BJP or any of its organisations have no connection with the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh," Nitin Gadkari told reporters.
The investigation so far has revealed that one of the killers was waiting for Gauri near her house and two others are suspected to have followed her home from her office.
The CCTV footage recovered from near her home revealed that the killers were apparently wearing helmets and black jackets and escaped after the murder.
