Indian police arrest right-wing Hindu leader for prominent woman journalist's murder

NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Indian police have made its first arrest in the murder of a prominent woman journalist whose death triggered nationwide protests last year.

Gauri Lankesh, the 55-year-old Indian journalist, critical of Hindu nationalist politics, was shot dead outside her home in the southern state of Karnataka's capital Bengaluru on Sept. 5, 2017 by helmet-wearing, bike-borne gunmen.

"The special investigating team probing the murder case Friday arrested K.T. Naveen Kumar, said to be a leader of a local Hindu fundamentalist outfit, for his involvement in the murder of Lankesh," a police official said Saturday.

Kumar was earlier nabbed by the Bengaluru Police under the Arms Act for illegal possession of bullets. "The special probe team has now taken him into its custody," the official said.

Lankesh worked for several leading newspapers in India and later ran an independent newspaper Lankesh Patrike, along with her brother Indrajit for several years. But after a split with her brother, she started her own newspaper Gauri Lankesh Patrike.

Well-known in India for her left-leaning views, Lankesh was fiercely critical of Hindu fundamentalism in politics and vehemently opposed the caste system. She was also sympathetic to left-wing Naxalite rebels involved in a bloody insurgency against the government. Enditem