Investigation into who ordered Babita Deokaran's murder ongoing - Hawks

JOHANNESBURG - The Hawks' probe into the paymasters behind Gauteng Health Department whistleblower Babita Deokaran’s death is afoot.

Last year, six hitmen pleaded guilty to killing Deokaran, who was gunned down outside her home in Mondeor, south Joburg, on 23 August 2021.

Before her untimely death, Deokaran flagged some R850 million in suspicious payments out of Tembisa Hospital.

On Sunday, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), led by director, Godfrey Lebeya, briefed the media in Tshwane on progress made during the first quarter of this financial year.

To date, Deokaran’s convicted killers remain mum on who funded the deadly ordeal.

Last week, on the anniversary of her tragic death, a memorial event was held in her honour.

The circumstances of her murder resurfaced during a quarterly briefing by the Hawks on Sunday, with the directorate’s Lebeya revealing that despite the lack f cooperation from Deokaran’s killers, investigations were ongoing.

"Who are the masters behind that execution? Who is the one that assigned them?"

Lebeya said that various spheres of the country’s crime-fighting agencies were working to root out the funders of this heinous crime.