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Journalism of Courage
Five months after VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati was killed along with four associates by a group of 40-odd assailants in his ashram at Jalespeta in Kandhamal,the Criminal Investigation Department of the Orissa Police on Friday submitted a chargesheet against seven persons arrested in the case.
The agency filed the 270-page chargesheet against Duryodhan Sunamajhi,Munda Badamajhi,Sanatana Badamajhi,Bijay Sanseth,Gananath Chalanseth,Bhaskar Sunamajhi and Budhdev Naik in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate Dolagobinda Barik on Friday. The seven accused,all Christians,have been charged under sections 302,449,452,380,120(B) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 25 and 27 of Arms Act,said investigating officer S K Patnaik. While all the seven arrested were part of the group that came to kill Saraswati,Naik is a hardcore and the others active sympathisers of Left-wing extremists. The CID team,headed by SP Yatindra Koyal,was handed over the case on August 28,five days after the killing.
According to the chargesheet,Saraswati,82,was celebrating Janmasthami on August 23,when masked assailants armed with AK-47 rifles and sharp weapons entered the premises at 7.40 pm. The assailants who mistook Amritananda baba (62) to be Swamiji,fired at him and killed him. Puranjan Ganthi (28),brother of a girl inmate,who was sleeping in the security staffs room,was also shot dead.
Mata Bhaktimayee (40) entered Saraswatis room,bolted the door from inside and pushed him to the toilet to save him. The assailants cut open the door and fired through the gap killing Bhaktimayee on the spot. Kishore Baba (45) who rushed in to resist the assailants,was also fired at and killed. The assailants hacked open the toilet door,sprayed bullets on Saraswati,and then hacked his right leg. The entire operation was over in 15-20 minutes. According to the forensic report,Saraswati received 14 bullet injuries.
The chargesheet,though preliminary,has revealed that the killing of Saraswati was a layered exercise,the planning and execution of which were done by Maoists,hired by a group that wanted to eliminate Saraswati. People involved in the murder were given minimal information. During planning of the murder,if somebody was called to a spot,he was just asked to report there on a particular date or time. Beyond that he wasnt told anything, the chargesheet stated. The chargesheet is not emphatic on whether the killing was planned by leaders of a particular community,as alleged by the VHP.
The chargesheet stated that the provocation for the murder were incidents in June and July when Saraswati opposed the killing of cow in Tumudibandh village. A few days before,followers of Saraswati had allegedly thrown dirt on beef that was being taken for consumption by a particular community. The December 2007 riot in which houses of a particular community were burnt down was another reason.
All accused are Christians but it is too early to say if a particular community was behind the murder, a CID official said.
