Parshuram Waghmore, the man accused of shooting dead activist and journalist Gauri Lankesh, was felicitated by Hindutva groups in Karnataka’s Vijayapura on Saturday after his release from prison, reported The News Minute.
Manohar Yadave, one of the men accused of plotting Lankesh’s killing, was also felicitated on Saturday during celebrations for the Hindu festival Dussehra.
Both men are natives of Vijayapura and had been released on Friday after six years in prison.
Lankesh, the editor of a periodical named Gauri Lankesh Patrike and a prominent critic of Hindutva groups, was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar by a group of men on the night of September 5, 2017, as she was returning home from work.
A sessions court in Bengaluru on Wednesday granted bail to Waghmore, Yadave and six others accused in the case. They were released from Bengaluru Central Prison on Friday.
The group includes Amol Kale, who allegedly conceived the assassination plot, and Ganesh Miskin who was allegedly Waghmore’s getaway driver.
Of the 18 persons accused of Lankesh’s murder, 16 are now out on bail while one has never been arrested. One is serving a sentence in a related murder case.
On September 4, the Karnataka High Court granted bail to four of the alleged conspirators, namely Bharat Kurane, Srikanth Pangarkar, Sujith Kumar and Sudhanwa Gondhalekar.
N Mohan Nayak was the first among the group to get bail in December. The Supreme Court has rejected two petitions seeking that his bail be revoked, noting that he had been cooperating with the trial court.
Amit Dighvekar, KT Naveen Kumar and Suresh HL got bail in July.
In August, former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pratap Simha visited Naveen Kumar’s residence to felicitate him, reported The Indian Express.
Investigating agencies have said that the killing of Lankesh is linked to three other murders planned by Hindutva groups.
These are the killing of Kannada writer and anti-superstition activist MM Kalburgi in August 2015 and the murder of rationalist and Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare at Maharashtra’s Kolhapur in the same year.
In 2013, anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar was murdered in Pune.
Sharad Kalaskar, one of the 18 persons charged with Lankesh’s murder, is serving a sentence after being convicted of Dabholkar’s murder.
