BENGALURU: The investigation in the Gauri Lankesh murder case has revealed that around half-a-dozen men, including a Maharashtra-based doctor, had undergone firearms training in an agricultural field at Jamboti village, near the forest area of Belagavi district, Karnataka . The field is owned by Bharat Kurne, the 12th accused in the case.

Kurne, 37, was arrested last week and is currently in Special Investigation Team (SIT) custody. He had reportedly allowed his field to be converted into a firing range where shooters were trained to handle different weapons. SIT sleuths learnt that the main trainer was Rajesh Bangera, who was arrested in last month. Bangera was the personal assistant of a local politician.

“The training was given during April-May 2013, months before the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune,” sources said. Two motorcycle-borne men had shot him dead on August 20, 2013; the CBI is probing the case. “The training included holding the loaded pistol and aiming at a moving object while running. The shooters were told that by shooting at the face or head of the victims, chances of them surviving would be less,” sources said.

The training module also included a discussion on different religions and the threats they faced. One of the trainees is a doctor from Pune and has been arrested by CBI in the Dabholkar case, sources added.

The trainees never addressed each other with their real names. “They used aliases like Chota Mian, Bada Bhai, Bhai Sahab, Kaaka, Mama, Dada, Bandhu, and so on. When we showed the doctor’s picture to another accused, he reportedly identified him as one of those who had been trained,” sources said.

