Accused in Gauri Lankesh murder case joins Shinde-led Shiv Sena ahead of Maharashtra polls : Valley Vision

An accused in the 2017 murder of veteran journalist and human rights defender Gauri Lankesh has joined the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

On Friday, Shrikant Pangarkar who was arrested in connection with the murder case in August 2018 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 Karnataka High Court granted him bail last month.

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 former minister Arjun 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.”

Pangarkar was a member of the Shiv Sena before the party’s split. He was the Jalna municipal councillor between 2001 and 2006. He joined the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti after being dropped by the party during the 2011 civic elections.

Gauri 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 arranging firearms and attending a training camp in the murder case.

He was also accused of plotting to bomb the Sunburn music festival in Pune in 2017 and was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad in Mumbai in 2018.