After journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot three times, she tried to run into her house in Bengaluru but failed. She collapsed outside, where neighbours who heard the gunshots found her lying in a pool of blood. The killing, which has outraged journalists, activists, and citizens, was reportedly recorded by security cameras installed near Lankesh’s garage.
Reportedly, her house has four sets of CCTV. In the footage, Lankesh, 55, can be seen getting out of her car and as she parks her Toyota Etios, a man wearing a helmet walks upto her. He fires many shots but three bullets hit her, one on her forehead.
The man seen on camera is said to be accompanied by two others on a bike but its license plate was not revealed in the footage. The Congress government in Karnataka promised urgent and thorough probe. CM Siddaramaiah called her murder “an assassination of democracy.”
Many noted journalist groups, including the Editors’ Guild, Press Club of India and Press Association, held protests, calling her murder a “brutal assault on the freedom of the press”.
