Karnataka government starts special courts to hear Kalburgi and Lankesh murder cases

Karnataka’s Congress government, led by Minister Principal Siddaramaiah, is taking the initiative to set up a special tribunal for trials related to the murders of eminent Canadian writer MM Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh. According to media reports, while ordering the authorities to expedite the creation of these special tribunals, the Minister Principal responded to the concerns expressed by the families of both the victims regarding the long duration of the trial. Seven years after the murder of MM Kalburgi, whose case was prosecuted between 2018 and 2019, his family, including his wife Umadevi Kalburgi, have requested the creation of a special tribunal. Similarly, in the case of Gauri Lankesh, in which 18 people were arrested and a full plea of charges was presented, the gradual progress of the trial led Minister Pradhan to recognize the need for a specific tribunal. Police investigation revealed that both Kalburgi and Lankesh were victims of the same far-right group. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) accused six people associated with the right-wing fundamentalist Hindutva group in Kalburgi’s murder and also linked them to the Gauri Lankesh case. In this last one, 17 people from right-wing groups face trial. Surprisingly, forensic analysis found identical ballistics tests to those linked to the murders of Kalburgi and Lankesh, similarities that extended to the shootings of Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra. The SIT claimed that the accused followed the principles laid down in the Sanatan Sanstha’s publication ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhna’, systematically targeting people who were considered opposed to their beliefs.