Gauri Lankesh murder accused agrees for narco analysis test, says lawyer

Bengaluru, Jun 27: K T Naveen Kumar, an accused in the activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh murder case, has agreed to undergo a narco-analysis test, his lawyer said today.

"My client has agreed to undergo a narco-analysis test to prove his innocence in the Gauri Lankesh murder case. We have applied for it in the city civil court," counsel A Vedamurthy told PTI.

A city civil and Sessions Court yesterday had sought to know from Kumar whether he was ready to undergo the narco analysis test after his counsel alleged that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder did not conduct any test earlier.

Making submissions before the court yesterday, Vedamurthy had alleged SIT had taken Kumar for a narco-analysis test in Gujarat, but it did not inform him, as per court directions. "It neither took us as accomplice to Kumar for narcoanalysis in Gujarat, nor conducted any test on him. We were not informed about it also. So by the time our advocate reached Gujarat, the SIT team was ready to leave with Kumar, saying he refused to undergo the test," he said. Vedamurthy alleged that no documents related to Rs 1.10 lakh payment to Forensic Science Laboratory for narco analysis was furnished.

He also alleged that the charge sheet filed by the SIT against Kumar was full of discrepancies. "Ayaz-Ullah-Sharief, who claimed to have sold bullets to Naveen Kumar, had made a statement that he did so for Rs 3,000, but as per a statement of the witness present during the actual transaction, it was sold for Rs 20,000," he said. "Sharief has in his statement said he gave dummy bullets to Naveen Kumar for making a locket," he added.

Vedamurthy also clarified that the bullets purchased by Naveen Kumar and those used in Lankesh's murder did not match. The hearing of the case will resume tomorrow. Earlier, Kumar, in a statement to the SIT, had claimed he had failed to arrange for bullets to execute the plot to kill Lankesh.

He had also stated that he became aware of the conspiracy to kill Lankesh last August after Praveen Kumar, another suspect, told him about it. He further had said Praveen had told him to arrange for bullets to kill Lankesh, but he couldn't complete the task and that he came to know of her killing through TV channels.

Lankesh, who was known for her strong anti-Hindutva stand, was shot dead in front of her house here on September 5 last year, triggering a nationwide outrage. The SIT has arrested six persons, including Parashuram Waghmare, who it has alleged, was her assassin.

PTI