Accused in Gauri Lankesh murder case joins Shinde Sena ahead of Maharashtra elections

An accused in the 2017 murder of activist-journalist has joined the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, reported The Indian Express on Sunday.

Shrikant Pangarkar was arrested in connection with the murder case in August 2018. The Karnataka High Court granted him bail in September.

On Friday, he joined the Shinde Sena in the presence of party leader and former minister Arjun Khotkar. This comes ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra scheduled to be held on November 20.

The party has also given Pangarkar the charge of its poll campaign in the Jalna Assembly constituency, according to The Indian Express.

“Pangarkar is a former Shiv Sainik and has returned to the party,” said Khotkar. “He has been working for the party. He has been released by the court and has come out of jail after completing the judicial proceedings.”

However, later in the day, Shinde Sena’s spokesperson and MLA Sanjay Shirsat told The Indian Express that he was not aware of Pangarkar joining the party.

Lankesh, the editor of a periodical named Gauri Lankesh Patrike and a prominent critic of Hindutva groups, was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar by a group of men on the night of September 5, 2017, as she was returning home from work.

Pangarkar was accused of...