MM Kalburgi (left) was killed in 2015, while Gauri Lankesh (right) was killed in 2017.
Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge has alleged that people associated with the Sangh Parivar were behind the murders of journalist Gauri Lankesh and Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi and said those responsible would be put behind bars within the next six months.
Speaking at the Muslim Youth League State Conference in Kerala's Ernakulam, the Congress leader said the Karnataka government was closely following up on the cases and would ensure that the accused were brought to justice.
Referring to the murders of Kalburgi, Lankesh and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, Kharge alleged that people associated with the Sangh were responsible for the killings.
"Feroz ji (IUML leader PK Firoz), if I'm not mistaken, while speaking, you spoke about MM Kalburgi ji, Gauri Lankesh ji and Dabholkar ji. People from the Sangh killed them. The case is underway. In another six months, I will finish it and put all these people in jail. We are following it up. We will do it," he said.
Kharge further alleged that those responsible for the killings were also responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
"These are the people who are responsible for killing Gandhi," he said, adding that the government was pursuing the cases.
MM Kalburgi, a renowned Kannada scholar and rationalist, was shot dead at his residence in Dharwad in August 2015. Two unidentified men arrived at his house on a bike. One of them knocked on the door and shot Kalburgi at point-blank range when he answered. The assailants subsequently fled the scene.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) took over the investigation and filed charges against several individuals allegedly linked to right-wing extremist ideologies. The chargesheet alleged that the killers were motivated by a book published by the Sanatan Sanstha, which had targeted individuals critical of hardline Hindutva beliefs and idol worship.
Two years after Kalburgi's murder, journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her residence in Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar in September 2017.
According to the investigation, two men arrived on a scooter after conducting reconnaissance in the area. The shooter, identified by investigators as Parashuram Waghmare, fired multiple rounds at Lankesh, hitting her in the head, neck and chest.
The SIT investigation alleged that Lankesh had been marked for assassination as part of a wider conspiracy involving a network affiliated with the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.
Both the cases are expected to reach a final verdict as the trial is about to conclude.
The investigations into these murders were also examined in the context of a wider alleged conspiracy targeting writers, rationalists and activists. The probe examined possible links with the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra in 2013 and activist Govind Pansare in 2015.
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