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Murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswati

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Murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswati
Part of persecution of Hindus and religious violence in Odisha
Kandhamal is located in Odisha
Kandhamal
Kandhamal
Kandhamal (Odisha)
LocationKandhamal, Odisha
Coordinates20°28′N 84°14′E / 20.47°N 84.23°E / 20.47; 84.23
Date23 August 2008
TargetTo assassinate Lakshmanananda Saraswati
Attack type
Mass murder Assassination
WeaponsAk-47 and other revolvers
Deaths5 (including Lakshmanananda Saraswati)
Perpetrators8
Assailants7 Christians and 1 Maoist leader
Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati
Bornc. 1926
Talcher
Died23 August 2008(2008-08-23) (aged 81–82)
Tumudibandha Kandhamal, Odisha India
Cause of deathAssassination
NationalityIndian

Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati (c. 1926–23 August 2008) and four of his disciples were murdered on 23 August 2008 in the State of Odisha in India. Saraswati was a tribal activist [1] Hindu monk and a Vishva Hindu Parishad leader. Seven Catholic Panos and one Maoist leader were convicted in the case.

Previous attack

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Saraswati was on his way to visit Brahmanigoan village when a bus belonging to Sugriba Singh, a Catholic Pano leader and Biju Janata Dal Member of Parliament (Lower House) obstructed the road. Saraswati was attacked on the spot- Saraswati, his driver and his security guard had all sustained injuries. In a statement, Saraswati had identified Radha Kanta Nayak, an Indian National Congress Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, as being involved in the attack. Nayak also served as chief of the Christian-evangelical organisation World Vision. Saraswati had further stated that this was the seventh time that they had failed to kill him.[1][2][3][4]

Threat

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Saraswati received an anonymous threat only a week before his assassination. Ashram authorities also filed a First Information Report (or FIR) with the local police. However, no steps were taken to provide appropriate security cover to him, despite ample evidence that there were very real threats being made on his life and the lives of those he served.[5] The Government of Odisha later admitted that lapses might have occurred in his security and would place Kandhamal Superintendent of Police Nikhil Kanodia and officer-in-charge of Tumudibandha police station Jena under suspension.[6]

Assassination

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Saraswati was murdered on Janmashtami Day of 2008 while visiting with pupils at the Kanya Ashram (a residential girls' school) in Tumudibandh, about 100 km from Phulbani, the district headquarters of Kandhamal district. Four of his disciples, including a boy, were also killed by gunfire.[7]

The Kanya Ashram housed 130 girls on the day of the Janmashtami festival and many of the girls were witness to the killing, as reported by Indian Express.[8] A group of thirty to forty armed men surrounded the Ashram. Four of the assailants carried AK-47s and many others had locally-made revolvers. Two of the four government-provided security guards had gone home to eat, and the assailants tied and gagged the two remaining guards.[9]

Civil disorder and riots

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Further information: 2008 Kandhamal violence

Hundreds of people gathered on the route to pay their last respects to Saraswati. Riots erupted when the procession passed through localities with Catholic populations. Catholics, who were perceived to be Indian National Congress party supporters, were targeted everywhere; in some places many Hindu families were also attacked because they were Congress supporters. The attackers included activists of the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and other Sangh Parivar organisations, and workers of the BJP that was a partner in the government headed by Naveen Patnaik. The violence also saw attacks on Catholics who belonged to the Pano Scheduled Castes and on people who claimed tribal status on the grounds that they spoke the Kui language of the Khond tribal people. The Kui Samaj, which unites members of the native Kondh tribe (both Hindus and Protestant Khonds) in Kandhamal, was found to be leading the attacks on Catholic Panos.[10]

Investigations

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The government announced a special investigative probe into the attack.[11][12]

The police arrested Pradesh Kumar Das, an employee of the Indian branch of World Vision, a Christian charity organisation, from Khadagpur while escaping from the district at Buguda. In another drive, two other persons, Vikram Digal and William Digal, were arrested from the house of Lal Digal, a local militant Catholic, from Nuasahi at Gunjibadi, Nuagaan. They have admitted to having joined a group of twenty-eight other assailants.[13]

On 28 August, a letter of denial was received by some media outlets, the VHP office in the Gajapati District of Orissa and the Bajrang Dal from a Maoist group. While the letter denied that the Central Committee of the Kotagarha branch of the Maoists had approved the attack, it claimed that some Maoists may have been bribed by Pano Catholics to launch the attack.[14] Soon after the appearance of the aforementioned letter, Azad, a leader of the Maoist People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, claimed responsibility for the murder of Lakshmanananda. Azad was suspected by the police of leading the attack himself.[15] On 9 September 2008 the Maoists, who work underground, made an official press release claiming responsibility for the killing of Saraswati.[16] A few claims that Maoist sympathizers of south Orissa had initially denied the role of CPI-Maoist were made in the murder of VHP leaders that sparked off communal violence in Kandhamnal district.[17] Communist Party of India (Maoist) leader Sabyasachi Panda claimed that they killed Saraswati and four of his disciples at his Jalespeta ashram on 23 August.[18][19] In March 2009 police arrested Central Committee and Politburo member of CPI (Maoist), Ashutosh Tudu for murder of Saraswati.[20]

On Wednesday 22 July 2009, a young Maoist couple, Surendra and Ruppi Pidikka alias Jaya Venkwara claimed to have been involved in the Saraswati's killing and surrendered to the Orissa police.[21]

Reconstructing the final moments of the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda and his four disciples in Kandhamal's Jalespeta ashram in August 2008, Orissa police said that a Maoist who surrendered this week claimed there were four policemen at the ashram but they fled when the Maoists announced that they had come looking for the Saraswati. Four of the six Maoists who carried out the attack were from Chhattisgarh, the police were told. Rayagada SP Ashis Kumar Singh said Surendra Brekwada alias Dasu, who surrendered with his wife Ruppi Pidikka alias Jaya, told them that a six-member "crack team" of the Maoists, led by Orissa CPI (Maoist) leader Azad alias Duna Keshav Rao, reached Jalespeta Ashram on 23 August evening and came across four lathi-wielding policemen. Brekwada, a sharpshooter, was one of the six who allegedly killed the 82-year-old Laxmanananda, Kishore Baba (45), Amritananda Baba (62), Mata Bhaktimayee (40) and Puranjan Ganthi (28), brother of one of the girl inmates of the tribal residential school.[22]

In spite of claims that the case of Saraswatiji's murder has been solved, it is widely believed to be a cover up, based on doubts expressed by several senior investigators and experts on left-wing extremism.[23] Subash Chouhan, national co-convener of the Bajrang Dal, refused to accept that the Maoists were responsible, saying "Why all of a sudden so many days after the incident has [Panda] come and spoken to the television channels?".[24]

Convictions

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On 30 September 2013, Additional district judge Rajendra Kumar Tosh at an Additional district and sessions court in Phulbani convicted seven Pano Catholics [25][26][27][28] for the murder: Gadanath Chalanseth, Bijaya Kumar Shyamseth, Buddha Nayak, Sanatan Badamajhi, Duryadhan Sunamajhi, Bhaskar Sunamajhi and Munda Badamajhi.[29] However, on 1 October 2013, the same court also convicted a Maoist leader from Andhra Pradesh for the same crime.

Six days later the same court set free five accused who were being tried for burning of a Catholic house in the riots following the murder. Sajan George, president of Global Council of Indian Christians alleged that the court is biased against the Dalit Catholic minority.[25] The defence lawyer, S.K. Padhi said that the ruling would be appealed against in the Odisha High Court.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Slain vhp man was conversion king". Indianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Christians fear attacks by Indian Hindus". newsweek. 29 December 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2008.[dead link]
  3. ^ "RSS wing blames Cong MP for triggering communal tension in Kandhamal". The Pioneer. 27 December 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
  4. ^ Justice on trial. "Kandhamal (Orissa)" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Anti-conversion Swami 4 others shot dead". The Pioneer. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  6. ^ "2 suspects held for Swami's killing". The Pioneer. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  7. ^ Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, four others shot dead, The Economic Times, 24 August 2008.[dead link]
  8. ^ Trauma in ashram, schoolgirls witnessed Swami's murder
  9. ^ Who killed Lakshmanananda? Krishnakumar P, 28 August 2008
  10. ^ Prafulla Das, Project Orissa[usurped], Frontline, 13 September 2008.
  11. ^ Orissa announces judicial probe into murder of VHP leaders The Hindu - 24 August 2008
  12. ^ Protests in Orissa over killing of VHP leader Archived 27 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine NDTV - 24 August 2008
  13. ^ "Widespread anger in Kandhamal over killings". The Pioneer. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  14. ^ Maoists deny role in VHP leader's murder The Hindu, 29 29 August 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  15. ^ Mishra, Sandeep (30 August 2008). "Maoists claim they killed 'fascist' VHP leader in Orissa". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  16. ^ "CPI Maoists claim VHP leader's killing". NDTV. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2008.
  17. ^ "Maoists deny role in VHP leader's murder". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 29 August 2008. Archived from the original on 1 September 2008.
  18. ^ "Maoists claim responsibility for killing of VHP leader". The Hindu (Press release). 5 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  19. ^ "We killed Swami, Maoists say again". The Times of India (Press release). 6 October 2008. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  20. ^ "Maoist mastermind behind Laxmanananda killing arrested". indianexpress.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  21. ^ Killers of Laxmanananda Saraswati surrender Zee News - 22 July 2009
  22. ^ Reconstructing the final moments of the killing of Laxmanananda Indian Express 25 July 2009 Archived 28 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Who killed Swami Lakshmanananda? Rediff News
  24. ^ "Report: Maoists say they murdered Hindu leader". USA Today. 10 May 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  25. ^ a b "Indian Christians sentenced to life for Orissa killing will appeal". Christian Today Australia. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  26. ^ "India Christians Appeal Lifetime Sentence For 'Murder' Hindu Leader". BosNewsLife. 18 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  27. ^ "Pray for the end of legal persecution in India". Mission Network News. 17 October 2013. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  28. ^ M, Rahul (October 2017). "The questionable convictions in the case of Swami Lakshmanananda's murder". The Caravan. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  29. ^ "Maoist leader convicted in Laxmanananda murder case". The Hindu. 31 October 2013.
  30. ^ "Life term for 8 in Lakshmananda Murder case". The Hindu (Press release). 1 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
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