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Gauri Lankesh murder case: Accused rented house to plan killing
While SIT officials refused to divulge further details, the application asking for his remand submitted in court says Nayak rented a house in Kumbalagodu on the outskirts of the state capital, where he and other key conspirators met in the run up to the murder.
With the arrest of Mohan Nayak, the seventh in connection with the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, the Special Investigation Team tasked with cracking the case believes it is slowly tying up loose ends in the elaborate plot hatched by the conspirators.
On Friday, the SIT revealed that it had arrested Nayak, a 50-year-old Ayurveda practitioner from Dakshina Kannada district, on Wednesday.
While SIT officials refused to divulge further details, the application asking for his remand submitted in court, a copy of which is with HT, says Nayak rented a house in Kumbalagodu on the outskirts of the state capital, where he and other key conspirators met in the run up to the murder.
The SIT was alerted to Nayak’s involvement thanks to a phone number found in a diary recovered from one of the main accused in the case, Amol Kale. The number was traced to an address registered in the name of one Sardar Vali Pasha, a resident of Kumbalagodu.
However, during questioning it emerged that Pasha had rented his house to Nayak.
According to the remand application, Nayak was in touch with Kale, Amit Degwekar and Dada alias Nihal, believed to be the masterminds behind this conspiracy.
Nayak travelled to Kushalnagar in Kodagu district, Sampaje in Dakshina Kannada, and to Belagavi district to meet the trio, according to the SIT.
In fact, according to the SIT, Nayak also met Kale twice in Belagavi district after the murder. Nayak, who has been remanded in police custody till Wednesday, then took the house in Kumbalagodu on rent, where the other accused are believed to have stayed, the remand application says.
