Belagavi: The right wing Sri Ram Sene has appealed to the people through social media sites to extend financial support to the family of Parshuram Ashok Wagmare, who is allegedly the man who pulled the trigger on journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh on September 5 last year. The appeal on Facebook has gone viral and triggered a controversy. Rakesh Math, president of the Vijayapura district unit of Sri Ram Sene, has posted the appeal, asking people to financially help the families of those arrested by the police in connection with the Gauri murder case. He has urged the people to have a role in safeguarding the Hindu religion.
The Facebook account details of Ashok Wagmare, Parshuram’s father, have also been posted by the Sene on its FB wall. Another group of people has posted messages with slogans like Jai Parashuram, Jai Mangal Pande and Jai Nathuram Godse, terming Parshuram a Dharma Rakshak. This post too has gone viral in the last two days. But Sene president Pramod Muthalik had recently denied that Parshuram and other youth arrested in the case had any connection with his organisation. But Mr Muthalik is yet to come out with a clarification on the latest post.
Meanwhile, sources said that Parashuram family’s alleged confession admitting to their son’s role in the Gauri’s murder, as reported in a section of the media, was done under pressure from investigating officers. The family is now denying Parshuram’s role in the murder and has been claiming that the man seen on in CCTV footage does not resemble him. Parshuram is not as tall as the killer shown in the footage and could not have rested his feet on the ground while sitting on the bike, sources said quoting the family. Based on the footage circulated on Youtube, Parshuram’s family plans to move court to prove that it was not Parshuram in the footage and he was not the killer. The family has accused officers of trying to hastily complete the investigation by trapping innocent youth in the case, the sources said.
