Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said "truth cannot be silenced" and demanded that the culprits be tracked down and punished. "The truth will never be silenced. Gauri Lankesh lives on in our hearts. My condolences & love to her family. The culprits have to be punished," his office said in a twitter post.


Speaking to the press later, Rahul said he had spoken to the Karnataka CM and told him that the people who did this must be caught and punished.


"Anybody who speaks against the ideology of the BJP-RSS is pressured, beaten, attacked and even killed. The PM is a skilled Hindutva politician. Unke shabdo mein 2 meanings hote hain. Unke base ke liye ek hota hai, baaki duniya ke liye alag," he said.


Senior Kannada journalist-activistGauri Lankesh, known for her left-leaning outlook and forthright views against Hindutva politics, was shot dead by unidentified assailants at her residence in Bengaluru today, police said. Gauri, aged 55, had returned home in her car and was opening the gate when motorcycle-borne assailants fired at her indiscriminately with two bullets hitting her in the chest and one on her forehead, police officials said. She died instantaneously.