Odisha: BJP Demands CBI Probe into 2008 Murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati

Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday urged the Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the 2008 gruesome murder of Swami Laxmanananda, a Hindu seer, by some miscreants at his ashram in Kandhamal district.

The demand came after the High Court of Orissa issued a show-cause notice to the Odisha government asking why a CBI probe should not be ordered into the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.

Senior BJP leader, Jayanarayan Mishra, while addressing a press conference here, said that a petition was filed earlier in the Orissa High Court as to why a CBI probe will not be conducted into the murder of Saraswati.

“We have been maintaining that there is a need for a CBI probe into the murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati. The HC show-cause notice has only vindicated our demand. The Odisha government must hand over the investigation to the CBI and inform people of the state why Saraswati was killed and why the security cover was withdrawn just before the gruesome murder,” Mishra, who is also Leader of the Opposition, in State Assembly, said.

The saffron party leader further said that they suspected a conspiracy as Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and police personnel were withdrawn mysteriously prior to the brutal killing of Saraswati.

Senior lawyer Debashish Hota, who filed the petition before the court, said on Tuesday, “Though the government tried to show that the murder was perpetrated by the Maoists, they tried to hide the real cause behind the murder.”

BJD MLA Padmanabh Behera said, “As the High Court has asked for a report, the Odisha government will certainly put forth how far the investigation progressed on the right track. Subsequently, the High Court will decide. The allegation that the Commission’s report has been suppressed is baseless.”

Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was killed by unidentified assailants on August 23, 2008. At least 38 people were killed in the month-long riot that followed the killing of Saraswati.