Maoists kill RSS man held after riots

Panigrahi,who hailed from neighbouring Bandapilpli village,had been fearing for his life ever since the Maoists distributed leaflets,promising to kill Hindu leaders who took part in the communal violence. Police said Panigrahi would never stay at one place,hoping the Maoists wouldn’t get to him.

He is the second RSS leader to be killed after the riots. Last November,Maoists shot dead 33-year-old Dhanu Pradhani in Kumbharigaon. Pradhani too was allegedly involved in the anti-Christian violence.

In a separate incident,police found the decapitated body of a CITU leader at Renjada on the Orissa-Jharkhand border. Rourkela SP Santosh Bala said Maoists may have killed Ravi Oram,the CITU leader. He had been kidnapped from his home by 20 masked men on Tuesday.

Meanwhile,the RSS has asked the Orissa Government to act tough on Panigrahi’s killers. Condemning the killing,state president Bipin Bihari Nanda demanded that the Government ensure protection of tribal Hindus. “The killers are easily escaping as Government not acting properly,” Nanda said. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad alleged that Panigrahi’s murder was a handiwork of “Church-sponsored militants and not Maoists”. VHP state secretary Gouri Prasad Rath alleged that Hindus were not safe in the state as Naveen and the Church had joined hands to humiliate them.