A respected and really outspoken journalist has been shot dead outside her home in a completely horrific manner that has shocked residents.
Gauri Lankesh
Gauri Lankesh, a fearless and outspoken Indian newspaper editor has been shot dead.
The woman was killed in a horrific murder outside her home.
According to Metro UK, Gauri Lankesh, who edited the weekly newspaper Lankesh Patrike, was well known for her staunch criticism of right-wing political ideology.
Last year, she was convicted of criminal defamation for an article she published in 2008 that levelled corruption claims against some right-wing Bhartiya Janata Party leaders in the region.
Lankesh was found lying in a pool of blood outside her home in Bengaluru, in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka, in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time.
She was 50 years old when she died.
‘People in front of her house heard gunshots,’ the city’s police commissioner T Suneel Kumar told reporters. ‘We found four empty cartridges from the scene.’
Politicians, fellow journalists and activists have since paid tribute to Lankesh, ‘a strong progressive voice’.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted: ‘Absolutely shocked to learn about the murder of renowned journalist Gauri Lankesh.
‘I have no words to condemn this heinous crime. In fact, this is an assassination on democracy.
‘In her passing, Karnataka has lost a strong progressive voice, and I have lost a friend.’
Rahul Gandhi, vice president of the opposition Congress party, also wrote: ‘The truth will never be silenced. Gauri Lankesh lives on in our hearts. My condolences and love to her family. The culprits have to be punished.’
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also added: ‘Gauri a rationalist silenced by gunsohts. Her murder is an attempt to stifle reason, to silence those holding contrarian views. Tragic.’