A retired forensic expert, whose ballistic analysis provided the crucial link between the murders of three prominent Indian rationalists, has given his testimony in court. B C Ravindra, a former expert with the Karnataka Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), deposed before a sessions court in Dharwad, detailing how his 2015 findings concretely connected the killings of scholar M M Kalburgi, anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, and leftist thinker Govind Pansare to a single group using a pair of country-made pistols.
The Ballistic Bridge Connecting Three Crimes
Ravindra took the witness stand on December 24, 2025, in the ongoing trial for the murder of 77-year-old Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi, who was shot at his Dharwad residence on August 30, 2015. The expert identified the reports he submitted in 2015 after comparing ballistic evidence. His analysis revealed that the empty cartridges and bullets recovered from Kalburgi's doorstep matched those from other cases.
In his initial report dated September 28, 2015, Ravindra concluded that the two bullets and cartridges from the Kalburgi murder had "been fired through a single country made pistol chambered for 7.65 mm caliber pistol." At the request of investigating officers, he then compared this evidence with material from the February 2015 murder of 81-year-old Govind Pansare in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
This comparative analysis, completed after receiving evidence on October 5, 2015, yielded a critical connection. Ravindra reported that one of the guns used to shoot Pansare and his wife was the same weapon used to kill Kalburgi. Furthermore, he established that a second gun used in the Pansare attack had been previously used in the August 20, 2013, murder of 69-year-old Narendra Dabholkar in Pune.
Courtroom Resistance and Expanded Investigation
During the deposition, defence advocates for the accused attempted to block Ravindra's testimony, arguing that findings from the Maharashtra cases were not relevant to the Kalburgi trial in Karnataka. However, the special public prosecutor successfully insisted on their inclusion, emphasizing that the ballistic evidence fundamentally tied the three murders together, pointing to a common perpetrator.
Ravindra's work did not stop there. Following these initial links, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) asked him to compare evidence from the Dabholkar murder case, registered at Pune's Deccan police station. Evidence from this case arrived at the FSL on October 31, 2015. This second analysis confirmed that while the Dabholkar murder bullets did not match the Kalburgi murder, they were a perfect match for the second set of cartridges from the Pansare shooting, solidifying the chain of weapon use.
This forensic trail later extended to a fourth murder. The ballistic analysis became the basis for examining the 2017 killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru. It was ultimately revealed that all four murders—Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi, and Lankesh—were executed with the same pair of 7.65 mm country-made guns.
The Syndicate and the Motive
Investigations by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police have alleged that these killings were the work of an organised crime syndicate with right-wing Hindutva extremist links. The group allegedly recruited youths from outfits like the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, Sanatan Sanstha, Sri Rama Sene, and Shri Shivpratishthan Hindustan.
The SIT, which took over the Kalburgi probe in March 2019 after a plea by the scholar's wife Umadevi, stated that the members were indoctrinated and trained in arms and bomb-making. They allegedly targeted individuals perceived as inimical to their ideology, following principles outlined in a book called Kshatra Dharma Sadhana published by Sanatan Sanstha.
In the Kalburgi case, eyewitnesses, including family members, have identified Ganesh Miskin as the shooter. Others identified include motorcycle rider Praveen Chatur and alleged group leader Amol Kale, who conducted reconnaissance. Miskin and Kale are also accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case. The SIT has stated that Kalburgi was targeted for statements wrongly attributed to him after a 2014 seminar against superstitious practices.
While most accused in the Kalburgi and Lankesh cases are out on bail, Sharad Kalaskar, the convicted shooter in the Dabholkar murder, remains in prison. The forensic deposition by B C Ravindra stands as a pivotal piece of evidence, forensically weaving together a tragic series of attacks on free thought and expression in India.
