Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Tuesday asked the state government to show cause as to why a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should not be ordered into the sensational murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati at his Jalespata ashram in Kandhamal in August 2008 that triggered riots in the district killing at least 38 people. While hearing a plea filed by advocate Debasis Hota seeking a directive to the state for a CBI investigation into the brutal assassination, Justice Chittaranjan Dash directed the Odisha government to submit a report by March 5 this year.
In his plea, Hota had informed the court that Saraswati along with four of his aides was killed at his ashram in Kandhamal August 23, 2008. “Swamiji was working against the illegal conversion of innocent and simple-minded people by the Christians through force, inducements, and fraudulent means. Swamiji was also strongly opposing cow slaughter, supporting the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act 1960.
Although the state government had ordered a Crime Branch probe into the incident, it failed to unravel the mystery behind the murder while the masterminds of the heinous act are still at large,” Hota said, demanding a CBI probe into the murders. The murder of the VHP leader and his associates led to violent communal clashes in the district. At least 38 persons were killed and hundreds rendered homeless. Police blamed the murders on the Maoists, it was learnt. Two commissions of inquiry were set up to investigate the murder. In November 2008, the state government appointed Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra as the one-member commission to probe Laxmanananda’s killing and the subsequent riots in Kandhamal.
In July 2009, the SC Mohapatra Commission submitted its interim report to the state government. In 2012, Justice Mohapatra passed away, and Justice AS Naidu was appointed to head the one-man probe panel. In December 2015, the Justice Naidu Commission submitted its report to the state government. As per the provision, the state government is supposed to present the report on the floor of the Assembly along with an action taken report. But little has progressed so far
