Author: Staff Reporter
Publication: The Hindu
Date: August 29, 2008
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/29/stories/2008082952080300.htm
Introduction: 'Some wayward cadre lured by
some committed the crime'
* Copy of the letter sent to VHP and Bajrang
Dal leaders
* Maoists also deny role in the murder of VHP activists at Jalaspata
Mystery behind the gruesome murder of VHP
leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and his four associates has deepened.
The Bajrang Dal and VHP activists as well sections of the media have received
a suspected Maoists' letter where they claim that their central committee
had no role in the murder.
The letter claimed that some wayward cadre
of the Maoist outfit were lured by nefarious elements to commit the crime.
Meanwhile naxal sympathizers of Orissa have also claimed that Maoists had
no hand in the murder of the VHP activists at Jalaspata in Kandhamal district.
A copy of the letter was sent to the State
joint secretary of the VHP and the State joint coordinator of the Bajrang
Dal, Ramakant Rath. The letter was claimed to be written by the Kotgarh unit
of the CPI-Maoist party.
'Action planned'
As per the letter the organization would initiate
action against some of their cadres in Kandhamal district who could be hired
for money by communal Christian miscreants for the murder of the VHP leader
and his associates. The reason for the murder was their opposition to religious
conversion by missionaries and recent clash over cow slaughter in Tumudibadh
area. "The State central committee of the Maoists had no knowledge of
this", the letter claimed. The naxals felt police were putting the blame
of murder of VHP leader on them trying to detach them from the common mass.
Many Maoist sympathizers of south Orissa have
also denied the role of CPI-Maoist in the murder of VHP leaders that sparked
off communal violence in Kandhamnal district.
Through a press note Dandapani Mohanty, general
secretary of the Orissa Forest Mazdoor Union said Maoists had no role in the
communal murders in Kandhamal district. It may be noted that Mr Mohanty earlier
headed the Daman Pratirodh Manch, which was banned by the State Government
for its pro-naxal activities. The case filed by against the ban order is sub
judice in the Orissa High Court.
It may be noted that the State unit of the
BJP is also not buying the claim of the State Government that Maoists had
murdered the VHP leader.
