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Bhubaneswar: The Justice AS Naidu Commission inquiring into the assassination of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and the ethno-communal riot that followed in Kandhamal district 2008 in which at least 42 people were killed submitted its report to the state government Tuesday.
The report was presented to the principal secretary, home, by the secretary to the commission, AK Patnaik. “We have handed over the commission’s report in two volumes to the home secretary Tuesday,” Patnaik said at the secretariat.
Justice Naidu, however, indicated that according to most of the witnesses who deposed before the commission Maoists had a hand in the killing of Saraswati.
Patnaik, however, remained silent on the findings of inquiry commission.
“The commission has compiled the final report in two volumes with a total of 1,020 pages,” he said.
“During the investigation, 825 affidavits were filed while 300 persons had deposed before the commission as witnesses, of whom 78 are government employees and 222 private witnesses,” he said.
The commission has verified around 4,000 documents, Patnaik said.
The state government had set up the judicial commission September 8, 2008, after ethno-communal riots following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his associates at his Chakapada Ashram on the night of August 23.
The riots had broken out in Kandhamal during the VHP leader’s funeral procession from Jalespata ashram to Chakapada Ashram August 25 and spread to other parts of the state.
More than 25,000 Christians had fled their homes in Kandhamal after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs who held Christians responsible for the murders.
The police, however, blamed the murders on Maoists.
Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra was appointed as the one-man commission to probe Saraswati’s killing and the subsequent riots. However, Justice Mohpatra passed away in 2012 before completing the inquiry. Then Justice Naidu was appointed by the government to head the one-man probe panel in 2012.
Sources said the panel’s report details its findings on the sequence of events and the circumstances leading to the murder of Saraswati at his ashram, the riots and also the role of individuals and organisations in the murders and riots.
Justice Naidu said the commission has recommended to the government measures that should be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
