Right-wing critic Gauri Lankesh murdered: Here are lesser known facts about the journalist

The police detained Gauri Lankesh in a defamation case and produced her before the court on 1 October 2016. Lankesh was released on bail after furnishing a personal bond of ₹25,000.

Image: ANI

New Delhi: Senior Kannada journalist and social activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead on Tuesday night by unidentified men at her residence, police said. She was 55. "She was shot dead from a close range at her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar (in the suburbs) around 8 p.m. as she was entering the house," Bengaluru Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar told reporters. "A total of seven bullets were fired out of which four missed the target and hit the wall of the house. Three bullets had hit her -- two in her chest area and one in the forehead," he said.

She didn't complain of anything. If she anywhere expressed about threats, it will be thoroughly investigated: Bengaluru Police Commissioner pic.twitter.com/sWa4IjGXCk

— ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2017

Her brother Indrajit Lankesh demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death. "I don't have any words to say. It is shocking that my sister, a journalist and activist, was targeted this way," he told reporters. "There must be a CBI investigation into the death and there must be severe punishment for the killers," he said. The Commissioner meanwhile said that police have "extracted the footage from CCTVs around the house and will examine it closely". "We will register a case of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and set up a special team to nab her killers," a police official said.

There are two CCTV cameras; three teams are working on this: Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy #GauriLankesh pic.twitter.com/y3rO0ryhvB — ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2017

Here are some lesser known facts about Gauri Lankesh:

#Visual of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead at her residence in Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar (Pic Source: Local media) pic.twitter.com/sV2S9DWyjg

— ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2017

• Gauri Lankesh  was known for being a critic of right-wing Hindu extremism.
• Gauri Lankesh worked as an editor in Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly started by her father P. Lankesh
• Gauri Lankesh also ran her own weekly called Gauri Lankesh Patrike.
• In 2003, Gauri Lankesh opposed the Sangh Parivar's alleged attempts to Hinduise the Sufi shrine Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Dargah, located at Baba Budan giri.
• Gauri Lankesh was known for advocating freedom of the press.
• Gauri Lankesh was openly critical of the caste system.
• The police detained Gauri Lankesh in a defamation case and produced her before the court on 1 October 2016. Lankesh was released on bail after furnishing a personal bond of ₹25,000.

Mumbai: Journalists union condemns Gauri Lankesh's murder The Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists  expressed shock and anger at the dastardly killing of veteran Kannada journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru this evening. In a statement here late on Tuesday night, it said Gauri Lankesh "has been a trenchant and courageous critic of Hindutva and casteist politics." "Since last November, she has been fighting her conviction in a criminal defamation case against BJP MP in Dharwad Prahlad Joshi and was out on bail," said the BUJ.