Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Sep 7: The CCTV footage reveals that the man who shot Gauri Lankesh appears to be short and stout and was wearing a jacket, a full-masked helmet and gloves.
The footage is in black and white and poor light at the crime scene further hampers the vital evidence.
“We only have a limited visual clue to the shooter. We have started investigation using other means to identify him,” said a senior police officer privy to the investigation.
CCTV camera at deceased Gauri Lankesh's house
Police sources added that another person wearing attire similar to that of the killer was waiting on a motorcycle. He is believed to have accompanied the killer. Another CCTV camera has captured this person, but the motorcycle registration number is not clear.
A police team carried out a reverse recce from her house to her office in Gandhi Bazaar on the route she had taken on Tuesday night. The team will analyse footage from 33 cameras enroute, to see if anyone was following her car.
Gauri usually returned home after 10 pm. However, on Tuesday she returned at 7.45 pm and was shot. The police strongly believe that she was stalked.
A preliminary analysis of the four empty cartridges found at the site of the shooting of 55-year-old Lankesh has determined that a countrymade 7.65 mm pistol, which is commonly available, was used in the killing.
According to an expert the trajectory of the bullet was forward, inward and outward. This fatal bullet injury is not a trademark of a conventional or branded weapon. It was caused by an unconventional weapon, he said.
An officer under anonymity said that the country made weapons are usually preferred by Naxalites, and hence raises a possibility that the killers could be Naxals. This also elimates the possibility that the killers may not be from the same group as those who eliminated Prof M.M. Kalburgi, who was shot dead with a 7.65mm caliber pistol.
A post-mortem examination carried out Wednesday morning by doctors at the Victoria Hospital has revealed three entry and three corresponding exit wounds on the body. One bullet entered the body from behind the shoulder region and two bullets hit the abdomen from the front.