A Special Investigation Team of the Karnataka police on Tuesday arrested four people for conspiring to kill rationalist and Kannada writer KS Bhagawan. The four suspects are believed to be associates of Naveen Kumar, a suspect in the Gauri Lankesh murder, Deccan Herald reported.

In September 2015, a Bajrang Dal leader had posted hateful tweets and threats against Bhagawan just hours after Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi was shot dead.

Thirty-seven-year-old Naveen Kumar was arrested on February 18 for illegal possession of bullets. The Special Investigation Team is set to file a chargesheet against him on Wednesday, reports said. The 90-day deadline for filing a chargesheet ends on June 9.

The Upparpet Police identified the four men suspected of conspiring to kill Bhagawan as Praveen, Amit Degwekar, Manohar Dundappa Evade and Amol Kale, The Hindu reported. They said that Praveen was a close associate of Naveen Kumar. “We will probe their possible role [in the Gauri Lankesh murder] eventually,” Special Investigation Team officer MN Anucheth told The Hindu.

The Gauri Lankesh murder case

Lankesh was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru’s RR Nagar locality on September 5. The police suspect that Kumar may have taken the unidentified gunmen to the writer and editor’s home. Kumar, said to be a member of the Hindu Yuva Sena, reportedly told his friends about his involvement in Lankesh’s murder.