Gauri Lankesh murder: Video clipping of Ramachandra Guha linking RSS with killing yet to be examined, says police

Police on Wednesday said they were yet to examine a video clipping in which noted historian Ramachandra Guha is purportedly making allegations linking the killing of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh with the Sangh Parivar.

The BJP has criticised the delay in lodging an FIR against the historian. “We are yet to examine the video clipping where Ramachandra Guha is allegedly linking the killing of Gauri Lankesh with Sangh Parivar. We will be doing it in a week’s time,” Malleshwaram Police Inspector K R Prasad told PTI.

BJP Yuva Morcha had on October 11 filed a complaint at Malleshwaram police station seeking criminal proceedings against Guha for his allegations linking the killing of Gauri Lankesh with Sangh Parivar. It had also accused Guha of making “baseless” allegations against Sangh Parivar organisations to tarnish their image, create a wrong perception in the minds of the public, and “cause provocation with intention to cause violence.”

Asked whether there is any political pressure coming in the way of investigation, Prasad said, “No. There isn’t. We are doing our job.” BJP, on the other hand, criticised police for their “tardiness” in pursuing the case. “The fact that the police is yet to examine the video speaks a lot of how police is working under this government. They should expedite the investigation and file a FIR against Guha,” actress and BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash said.

In the first place, there should not have been any delay by police to file an FIR because Guha had made these statements in the interview given to a news website, Malavika said. She also flayed the ruling Congress government in the state for interrogating people who are “in no way connected” with the Gauri Lankesh case and cited the case of writer Vikram Sampath.  On September 16, SIT had recorded the statement of Sampath in connection with the killing of Gauri.

BJP Yuva Morcha had slapped a legal notice on Guha seeking an unconditional apology for linking the Sangh Parivar with the killing of Gauri Lankesh. Following the notice Guha had tweeted, “In India today, independent writers and journalists are harassed, persecuted,  and even killed. But we shall not be silenced.” In another tweet, he had said, “Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the answer to a book or article can only be another book or  article. But we no longer live in Vajpayee’s India.”

The complainant quoted Guha as saying, “It is very likely that her (Gauri Lankesh) murderers came from the same Sangh Parivar from which the murderers of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi came,” in an interview to a news website.

Gauri, known to be an anti-establishment voice with strident anti-right wing views, was gunned down by unknown assailants at her home here on the night of September 5.