Shrikant Pangarkar, accused in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, joined Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Gauri Lankesh was shot dead in front of her residence in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, on 5 September 2017. Karnataka Police, with the assistance of Maharashtra agencies, had investigated the entire episode and several people were arrested. Pangarkar was a councilor of Jalna Municipality from 2001 to 2006. He was arrested in August 2018. On September 4 this year, Karnataka High Court granted him bail.
Pangarkar had joined the right-wing Hindu Janajagruti Samiti after being denied a ticket by the undivided Shiv Sena in 2011. He joined the Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Friday in the presence of former state minister Arjun Khotkar. Khotkar told reporters, ‘Panagarkar is a former Shiv Sainik and has returned to the party. He has been named the head of the Jalna assembly election campaign. It is known that the assembly elections in Maharashtra are to be held in a single phase on all 288 seats. Voting will be held on November 20 and the results will be declared on November 23. The tenure of the current assembly ends on November 26.
Strong welcome for the accused after getting bail
The main accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case were given a warm welcome by some Hindutva activists when they reached their hometown recently. The court had granted bail to Parshuram Waghmare, Manohar Yadav and 6 other accused on 9 October and they were released from jail on 11 October. All of them remained behind bars for more than 6 years. When he reached his hometown, Hindutva activists took him to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, where he was welcomed with a saffron shawl and garland. During this, slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Sanatan Dharma ki Jai’ were raised.
