An accused in the 2017 murder of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh has joined the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, reported The Indian Express on Sunday.

Shrikant Pangarkar was arrested in connection with the murder case in August 2018. The Karnataka High Court granted him bail in September.

On Friday, he 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 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 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.”

However, later in the day, Shinde Sena’s spokesperson and MLA Sanjay Shirsat told The Indian Express that he was not aware of Pangarkar joining the party.

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.

In September, the Karnataka High Court granted bail to him, along with Bharat Kurane, Sujith Kumar and Sudhanva Gondhalekar. The bench directed them to execute a personal bond for Rs one lakh each with two sureties for the like sum.

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.

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.

In August, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Pangarkar, noting that the alleged conspiracy to bomb the festival was never executed.