Bengaluru: Accused number three in the Gauri Lankesh murder case - Amol Kale alias Bhaisahab aka Sanjay Bhansare (37) is the man who has allegedly played a “central role” in all the four murder cases - of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare in Maharashtra and M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh in Karnataka - that were aimed at silencing the rationalists.
Top sources have told Deccan Chronicle: “Kale, along with key absconder in the Gauri case – Dada alias Nihal had met another accused Manohar Edave in Belagavi in June last year and tasked him to recruit more people and keep a close watch on Gauri’s movements. Edave was in charge of the recruitment cell in Karnataka."
"Kale was reportedly in touch with Sachin Andure - Dabholkar’s alleged shooter," the source said, adding that "after Gauri was murdered on September 5 last year he had handed over a 7.65mm bore country made pistol to Andure along with three bullets and a magazine, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had told the court in Mumbai on Sunday." "Kale is also a person of great interest in the Kalburgi murder case and will soon be interrogated in judicial custody by the Criminal Investigation Department,” said an official source on condition of anonymity.
Kale is said to be part of the team that identified the targets and drew up the hit list. He also played a pivotal role in liaising with the recruiters, trainers, funders and executioners. His diary, which was recovered by SIT, Karnataka from his house in Pune, throws a lot of light on the coming together of fringe right-wing hardliners from Maharashtra and Karnataka for killing the rationalists, who posed a serious threat to the Hindutva brigade,” added the source.
