Bengaluru: K.T. Naveen Kumar alias Hotte Manja, who is now being grilled by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for his alleged involvement in the sensational murder of editor-cum-activist Gauri Lankesh, may reportedly have nothing to do with the well-planned assassination of the noted activist. Gauri was shot dead by an unknown assailant outside her house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on September 5 last year.
While the SIT is maintaining a stoic silence on the alleged ‘prize’ catch of Kumar, who was arrested on a “tipoff” by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on February 18 from the KSRTC Bus Stand in Majestic under the Arms Act for allegedly selling contraband live bullets of .32 calibre, sources said that Kumar is a red herring in the investigation, which has gone dry on the trail of Gauri’s murderers. “A man of his description was allegedly picked up last month from Kadur in Chikkamagaluru. Later, on February 18 a local TV channel showed Kumar’s arrest in Upparpet police limits in Bengaluru under the Arms Act case, for selling contraband live cartridges. Kumar in his alleged conversations with his customers is said to have alluded to his links to the Gauri murder case. Barring a two-year-old FIR in a church attack case in Mandya in which Kumar was named as a co-accused, there is no police dossier on the man, who is reportedly a gunrunner, founder of a radical Right wing group and involved in high-prized murders,” said a highly-placed source.
The SIT, after obtaining his body warrant from the court, took Kumar into custody on March 2 soon after he was remanded to judicial custody and taken to Bengaluru Central Prison in the Arms Act case, to probe his alleged involvement in the Gauri murder case. There has been no word on his interrogation so far. Kumar and his family, who are originally from Chikkamagaluru, had moved to Mandya some years ago. His wife belongs to Kadur.
