Murder of Swami Lakshmanananda

Swami Lakshmanananda Sarasvati

Main article: Swami Lakshmanananda

Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four others were murdered in August 2008 in the Orissa state of India. Swami Lakshmanananda was a Hindu monk and a highly revered spiritual leader who lived a life dedicated to tribal welfare. His work for the upliftment of isolated tribal population and opposition to aggressive proletyzing, had run afoul of several evangelical Christian groups.

Past Attack

Swami Lakshamanananda was on his way to visit Brahmanigoan village. However, a bus belonging to Mr. Sugriba Singh, Panna Christian leader and BJD Member of Parliament (Lower House) obstructed the road and Swami was attacked on that spot injuring him, driver and security guard. In his statement Swami blamed Mr. Radha Kanta Nayak, Congress Member of Parliament (Upper House) and chief of Christian group World Vision. He further stated that this was for the seventh time that they failed to kill him.^{[1][2] [3][4]}

Threat

Swami received an anonymous threat only a week before he was killed. Ashram authorities also filed an FIR with the local police. However, no steps were taken to provide appropriate security cover to Swamiji.^[5] Orissa Government admitted lapses might have occurred in his security and placed Kandhmal Superintendent of Police Nikhil Kanodia and officer-in-charge of Tumudibandha police station Jena under suspension.^[6]

Assassination

He was killed at his kanyashram (Girls school) at Tumudibandh, about 100 km from Phulbani, the district headquarters of Kandhamal district. Four others including a boy were also killed.^[7]

The murder was committed on the Kanya Ashram (a residential school) which housed 130 girls on the day of the Janmashtami festival. A group of 30-40 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. The assailants tied and gagged the two remaining guards.^[8]

Many of the girls were eyewitnesses to the killing of the swami, as reported by Indian Express^[9]

Civil disorder and riots following assassination

Hundreds of people had gathered en route to pay their last respects to Lakshmanananda. Riots erupted when the procession passed through localities with Christian populations. Christians, who were perceived to be Congress 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 and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), parties that are partners in the government headed by Naveen Patnaik. The violence also saw attacks on Christians who belonged to the Scheduled Castes and on people who claimed tribal status on the grounds that they spoke the Kui language of the Kondh tribal people. The Kui Samaj, which unites members of the native Kondh tribe in Kandhamal, was found to be very much on the side of the VHP and the ruling alliance.^[10]

Investigations

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

The police have arrested Pradesh Kumar Das, an employee of the World Vision, a Christian Charity, from Khadagpur while escaping from the district at Buguda. In another drive, two other persons Vikram Digal and William Digal have been arrested from the house of Lal Digal, a local militant Christian, from Nuasahi at Gunjibadi, Nuagaan. They have admitted to having joined a group of 28 other assailants.^[13]

On August 28, a letter of denial was received by a 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 Christians 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 September 9, 2008 the Maoists, who work underground, made an official press release claiming responsibility for the killing of Lakshmanananda.^[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 Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples at his Jalespeta ashram on 23 August ^[18] .^[19]

On Wednesday July 22, 2009, a young Maoist couple, Surendra and Ruppi Pidikka alias Jaya Venkwara claimed to have been involved in the Swami's killing and surrendered to the Orissa police.^[20]

Reconstructing the final moments of the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and his four associates 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 Swami. 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 August 23 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.^[21]

In spite of claims that the case of Swamiji'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.^[22]

References

1. ^ "Slain vhp man was conversion king". Indianexpress.com. http://www.indianexpress.com/story/353136.html. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
2. ^ "Christians fear attacks by Indian Hindus". newsweek. 2007-12-29. http://www.newsweek.com/id/81970/page/1. Retrieved 2008-01-01. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "RSS wing blames Cong MP for triggering communal tension in Kandhamal". The Pioneer. 27 December 2007. http://www.dailypioneer.com/61677/RSS-wing-blames-Cong-MP-for-triggering-communal-tension-in-Kandhamal.html. Retrieved 29 September 2009. 
4. ^ Justice on trial. "Kandhamal (Orissa)". http://bharatam1.googlepages.com/kandhamal.pdf. 
5. ^ http://www.dailypioneer.com/3566/Anti-conversion-swami-4-others-shot-dead.html
6. ^ http://www.dailypioneer.com/19131/2-suspects-held-for-swamis-killing.html
7. ^ Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, four others shot dead The Economic Times - August 24, 2008
8. ^ http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/28orissa1.htm Who killed Swami Lakshmanananda? Krishnakumar P, August 28, 2008
9. ^ http://www.indianexpress.com/story/354813.html Trauma in ashram, schoolgirls witnessed Swami’s murder
10. ^ http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2519/stories/20080926251900400.htm Sangh Parivar’s Orissa Project
11. ^ Orissa announces judicial probe into murder of VHP leaders The Hindu - August 24, 2008
12. ^ Protests in Orissa over killing of VHP leader NDTV - August 24, 2008
13. ^ http://www.dailypioneer.com/19104/Widespread-anger-in-Kandhamal-over-killings.html
14. ^ Maoists deny role in VHP leader’s murder The Hindu - August 29, 2008]
15. ^ Mishra, Sandeep (30 August 2008). "Maoists claim they killed 'fascist' VHP leader in Orissa". Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Maoists_claim_Orissa_killing/articleshow/3423908.cms. Retrieved 2008-08-31. 
16. ^ "CPI Maoists claim VHP leader's killing". NDTV. September 9, 2008. http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080064612&ch=9/9/2008%209:16:00%20AM. Retrieved 2008-09-09. 
17. ^ "Maoists deny role in VHP leader's murder". The Hindu (Chennai, India). August 29, 2008. http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/29/stories/2008082952080300.htm. 
18. ^ "Maoists claim responsibility for killing of VHP leader" (Press release). The Hindu. October 5, 2008. http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/05/stories/2008100560400800.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-05. 
19. ^ "We killed Swami, Maoists say again" (Press release). The Times of India. October 6, 2008. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/We_killed_Swami_Maoists_say_again/articleshow/3562518.cms. Retrieved 2008-10-05. 
20. ^ Killers of Laxmanananda Saraswati surrender Zee News - July 22, 2009
21. ^ Reconstructing the final moments of the killing of Laxmanananda Indian Express 25 July 2009
22. ^ Who killed Swami Lakshmanananda? Rediff News

External links

• Who killed Swami Lakshmanananda?