Gauri Lankesh murder row: BJP issues statement over PM Modi Twitter handle controversy

New Delhi: Various troll handles shamelessly spewed venom after the death of Bengaluru based journalist Gauri Lankesh, while some of the handles compared the journalist to a “militant”, others tweeted saying Lankesh got what she deserved.   These trolls brought PM Narendra Modi under fire as large section of protesters who condemned Lankesh’s death called out PM Modi for following these trolls on Twitter. Following massive criticism and controversy, Bharatiya Janta Party on Thursday issued a statement condemning the entire controversy saying, “The controversy over PM following people on Twitter is mischievous and contorted”. This was followed by a long post by BJP, which read: Even Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Wednesday slammed online trolls for expressing happiness over the killing of Gauri Lankesh. Commenting on the ongoing controversy, Prasad said, “Expressing happiness on the killing of anyone is shameful, regrettable and totally against Indian traditions. Social media is not for that. I expect that Karnataka police will soon nab the killers of GauriLakesh at the earliest at take action against them.” The Special Investigating Team (SIT) has started its probe into the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh with the Karnataka government saying it was hopeful of nabbing the assailants "as soon as possible." The state government on Wednesday announced the formation of a 21-member SIT team headed by IGP (Intelligence) B K Singh with DCP (West) M N Anucheth as the Investigating Officer to probe the killing of Gauri that led to a wave of countrywide protests and condemnation across the political spectrum.