PUNE: The Maharashtra Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the murder of veteran communist leader Govind Pansare, will interrogate the suspects arrested by the Karnataka police in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru in September last year, to examine any common link in the two murders.State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief and additional director general of police Sanjay Kumar, who heads the state SIT, told TOI on Sunday, "Our team will shortly visit Karnataka. The team will interrogate the suspects arrested in the Lankesh murder case. Karnataka police are interrogating the suspects at present in the Lankesh murder case.We think we may get some valuable clues from them in relation to the Pansare case." As of now, the SIT has not decided whether or not they will arrest these suspects by way of a transit warrant. Kumar said the police will question Parshuram Waghmore, the prime suspect in the Lankesh murder case.Waghmore, a resident of Vijayapura district in Karnataka, was arrested by the Karnataka SIT last week. Karnataka SIT has also arrested Amol Kale (48), a resident of Chinchwad and three others from Karnataka and Goa. Kumar said the suspects arrested in the two murder cases are affiliated to different organisations.According to state SIT officials, the suspects arrested in the Pansare murder case belong to Sanatan Sanstha. The suspects involved in the Lankesh murder case belong to Hindu Yuva Sene and other right-wing organisations. Kumar said so far the investigations by the Karnataka police cannot be linked with the Pansare murder case. "However, their interrogation might give some further leads to the SIT in the case," he said.The State SIT had arrested Hindutva activist Virendrasinh Tawde, an ENT surgeon, for his alleged role in the criminal conspiracy to murder rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in August 2013 and Pansare in Kolhapur in February 2015.In January, a Kolhapur court had granted bail to Tawde in the Pansare case. Pansare was shot by two unidentified gunmen on February 16, 2015.He died four days later. His wife Uma, who was also shot, survived the attack.

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