State funeral for journalist Gauri Lankesh

Hundreds of mourners gathered in Bengaluru to pay their respects to senior journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead by three unidentified assailants outside her residence on Tuesday.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leader and member of Parliament M Veerappa Moily and other state leaders paid their last respects to Lankesh at Chamrajpet. The CM has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT)to be formed to conduct a probe into the murder.

She was laid to rest with full state honours amid chants of "Gauri Lankesh Amar Rahe (Long live Gauri Lankesh)" as her body was lowered into the grave.

Meanwhile, Police have pinned their hopes on the CCTV footage to get some clues about the identity of the killers.

When asked about the evidence gathered so far, Siddaramaiah said there were four CCTV cameras installed at Gauri's house, and one of them had caught the image of a person wearing a helmet entering the gate and firing at her after which she collapsed two to three feet away.

Members of the Kannada film fraternity, activists, members of the general public were seen at the venue paying their homage to the noted journalist, while friends and family members bid her a tearful farewell.

Earlier in the day, prominent journalists had congregated at the Press Club of India(PCI) in the national capital to demanded justice for Lankesh and raised the call for standing up to "forces" trying to "muzzle" the voices of dissent.

OneIndia News