Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday criticised the Congress government in Karnataka over the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in her Bengaluru home. He pointed out that immediately after word of her death spread, some quarters had “assumed it was a right-wing conspiracy”.

The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been trading barbs and accusations since Lankesh was shot dead on Tuesday.

On her brother Indrajit Lankesh’s statement that the activist had been trying to get Naxalites to surrender to the state government, Prasad questioned Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah whether her efforts were with or without the government’s consent.

“If she was, indeed, helping the government, why was she not given security?” the information and technology minister said at a press conference. “We demand an answer from the Karnataka government.”

He even criticised Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for alleging that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the right-wing ideology was responsible for her death. “I would like to ask the Karnataka chief minister in light of the comment: should we expect fair a probe by the Special Investigation team?” he said. “Does the chief minister agree with the [Gandhi’s] comment?”

Prasad further asked why “intellectuals and liberals” had remained silent when BJP workers were killed in political violence in Kerala and Karnataka.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Friday announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for information related to Lankesh’s murder case, ANI reported. The announcement was made after Reddy, along with Siddaramaiah, held a meeting with the Special Investigation Team constituted on Wednesday to look into Lankesh’s assassination.

The team is headed by Inspector General of Police BK Singh.

On Friday, Siddaramaiah said Lankesh’s family has asked the SIT to solve the case within two weeks. “If that does not happen, it will be handed over to the CBI,” the Karnataka chief minister said.

The Bengaluru Police on Thursday had asked the public to share any information they may have to help them find the culprits. “The public can call 09480800202 or email sit.glankesh@ksp.gov.in,” the Bengaluru Police said on Twitter.

Footage obtained from the CCTV cameras installed around Lankesh’s house showed a man wearing a helmet shoot her.

Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her home in the city’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar on Tuesday night. Unidentified men fired at least four shots at her before escaping on a motorcycle.

Days before she was shot, she had told her mother she thought someone was lurking outside her house, her sister Kavitha Lankesh said.

The journalist was an outspoken critic of Hindutva groups and edited and published a Kannada newspaper called Gauri Lankesh Patrike. She also wrote widely in the English press.