Maoist acquittal to report ‘disappearance’: Why Odisha is heating up over 2008 VHP seer killing

Odisha's Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi vowed during a recent event that his government would ensure justice for the 2008 killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati. Majhi made the statement after a special court acquitted Maoist leader D Kesaba Rao alias Azad of the murder charges in August 2023 due to lack of evidence.

Since the acquittal, the VHP and other right-wing groups have persistently demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the case. However, police argued that Azad had left a letter purportedly signed by him, claiming that Maoists of Bansadhar division executed the killings. The court refuted this claim, stating that no such letter was presented before it.

In 2013, a court in Phulbani convicted eight individuals, including a Maoist leader, for the murder, but most are currently on bail after serving around 10 years in prison. The Saraswati killing triggered widespread communal violence in Kandhamal district, resulting in at least 39 deaths, the displacement of over 25,000 people, and significant political implications.

The BJD government established a judicial inquiry commission in 2008 to investigate the incident, but the commission's findings were not made public until December 2015. Recently, the BJP government accused the previous BJD administration of intentionally concealing crucial reports related to the Saraswati case and the 2016 fire incident at SUM medical college and hospital.

The BJP-led government filed a complaint alleging the "disappearance" of these reports, prompting the police to summon retired bureaucrats for questioning.