On September 5, 2017, activist and journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot in front of her house in the city of Bengaluru. In January 2025, the last of the accused in her murder case was granted bail. No one has been convicted in this case yet.
Gauri Lankesh was the editor of ‘Gauri Lankesh Patrike’, a struggling newspaper whose circulation, even at its peak, didn’t exceed four digits. However, the causes she fought for were numerous: she advocated for the Lingayat community to be declared a separate religion; she liaised between the state government and Naxalites to facilitate their reintegration into society after they decided to lay down their arms; and she exposed crime, corruption, and politicians. Many would have wanted her silenced. In a new book, ‘I am on the Hit List: Murder and Myth-Making in South India’, Rollo Romig addresses these questions: Who killed Gauri Lankesh? Who would want to silence this tiny, frail, fifty-five-year-old woman with a small, struggling newspaper? What was her true legacy? And what are the consequences of her assassination for journalism, activism, and democracy in India?
Gauri’s death revealed the potential consequences of speaking truth to power. It’s a troubling reality: while one must speak up against injustice, one’s voice might be ineffective against powerful forces, and the cost of speaking out can be severe—you could end up on a hit list (during investigations, it was found that some individuals connected with certain organizations maintained such lists).
Interestingly, four similar murders occurred between 2013 and 2017: Narendra Dabholkar (aged 67, Pune), Govind Pansare (81, Kolhapur), M.M. Kalburgi (81, Kolhapur), and finally Gauri Lankesh (55, Bengaluru). All were shot point-blank with a 7.65 mm pistol. While these individuals were relatively unknown beyond their regions, they remained steadfast in standing up against powerful forces.
Dabholkar sought to expose superstitions, black magic, and fraudulent godmen through his public outreach, explaining the science and tricks behind their tactics. An officer appointed to investigate Dabholkar’s murder allegedly used a spirit medium to summon Dabholkar’s soul into one of his constables and question ‘Dabholkar’ himself to identify the culprits. He even gave a demonstration to a journalist from a prominent magazine. Yet, no one has been convicted in this case either.
In the new episode of Navigating India, Pulitzer Prize finalist author and journalist Rollo Romig joins us to discuss these questions and many more.
References:
- Rollo Romig: Website, Instagram
- Book: I Am on the Hit List: Murder and Myth-making in South India
- Last Accused In Custody For Journalist Gauri Lankesh’s Murder Gets Bail, 17 Accused Out On Bail While One Absconds by Mustafa Plumber
- Ground report: Behind Karnataka BJP’s ‘jihadi’ murder list, more than Hindutva and Islamist clashes by Sruthisagar Yamunan
- Have ‘jihadis’ killed 23 Hindutva activists in Karnataka since 2014 as BJP claims? by Sruthisagar Yamunan
- Gauri Lankesh’s killers just did the job our society had designed for them by TM Krishna
- The end of rule of law in America by J. Michael Luttig
- ‘Electoral autocracy’: The downgrading of India’s democracy by Soutik Biswas
- Looking back 2024: Most dangerous places for journalists by Gautam Nirmal Doshi
- How to steal a river by Rollo Romig
- Agni Sreedhar: Instagram
- My Days in the Underworld- Rise of the Bangalore Mafia by Agni Sreedhar
- India’s newspaper revolution: capitalism, politics, and the Indian-language press, 1977-99 by Robin Jeffrey
- Speaking of Shiva by A.K. Ramanujan
- Who is Luigi Mangione, CEO shooting suspect? by Madeline Halpert & Mike Wendling
- Rama Bhima Soma: Cultural Investigations into Modern Karnataka- In Conversation with Srikar Raghavan– Episode 10 of Navigating India
- The Adversary by Srikar Raghavan
Episode is available on:
rishvanth.com 
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