Same gun used to kill Gauri Lankesh and MM Kalburgi, says forensic report

The Karnataka forensic science laboratory has confirmed that journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh and rationalist M M Kalburgi were shot dead with the same gun. The lab made this confirmation in its report, submitted to the Special Investigation Team probing the murder of Gauri Lankesh, thus establishing a link between the two murders.

The report was part of the first chargesheet, filed by the SIT, which named K T Naveen Kumar as an accused. Sources reportedly said that the bullets in both cases “have been fired through a single country made a pistol chambered for 7.65 mm calibre pistol cartridges.”

The two murders took place with a gap of two years. 77-year-old Kalburgi was shot dead at his house in Dharwad on August 30, 2015, while Lankesh (55) was killed on September 5, 2017, in Bengaluru.