Gauri Lankesh, 55, was found lying in a pool of blood at her doorstep in the city of Bangalore, Karnataka, BBC online reports. Read more on Karnataka
The most high profile Indian journalist murdered in recent years, Ms Lankesh was buried with full state honours Wednesday.
Ministers belonging to India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have openly attacked journalists, using terms like "presstitute" (a mix of press and prostitute) to describe them.
Gauri Lankesh was known as a fearless and outspoken journalist and for her secularist criticism of right-wing and Hindu nationalists, including members of the BJP.
After a split with her brother she started her own newspaper Gauri Lankesh Patrike. More about her and the killing here
Her killing follows several assassinations of outspoken secularists or rationalists in recent years, including scholar Malleshappa Kalburgi, anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, and author-politician Govind Pansare.
"With Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of 'anti-national' thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream media," said the watchdog Reporters without Borders .
