Sunday, May 29, 2011

Widen Swami Laxmanananda killing probe ambit, HC orders police—The Pioneer – 18.5.11


PNS | CUTTACK

Dissatisfied over the nature and progress of the investigation into the sensational murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, the Orissa High Court on Tuesday once again asked the State Crime Branch (CB) police to expand the purview of its investigation and file a fresh affidavit in the court.

The 80-year-old Hindu seer was brutally murdered along with four of his disciples during the Janmashtami celebrations at Jalespeta Ashram in Kandhamal district on August 23, 2008. The Crime Branch was entrusted by the State Government to probe into the matter and the cops in the meantime have submitted two chargesheets in the case naming 14 accused, of whom only nine have been arrested till date.

Not satisfied with the CB investigation, the seer’s disciple Brahmachari Madhav Chaitanya filed a writ in the HC seeking an impartial inquiry by an independent agency. He also questioned why the investigating police were not probing the motive and conspiracy angle of the brutal murder.

“Although Swamiji had received threatening letters to eliminate him several times before his death, the Crime Branch police have failed to make any headway in that angle”, argued the petitioner’s advocate MN Krishnamani, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court. Even as the police have filed two chargesheets in the case claiming all the accused are Maoist cadre, the main accused in the case has not yet been apprehended, Krishnamani told the court alleging that the investigating police officers are completely silent over the role of a local Church in the incident.

Urging the HC to order a CBI inquiry into the case, the SC lawyer alleged that the CB police have not made any significant progress in the case and are now trying to dilute the sensational murder case by painting the Maoists as the villains. He told the court that the prosecution is trying to build a soft case thereby facilitating the culprits to escape punishment.

Krishnamani also brought to the notice of the court that the CB police have not brought the reported resolution passed by a local Church, into the purview of investigation. Members of Beticola Parish Church Council of Baliguda had reportedly passed a resolution prior to the incident that Swamiji would be killed.

After hearing the arguments of the petitioner advocate, Justice Kumari Sanju Panda directed the CB to expand its purview of investigation and file a fresh affidavit before the next date of hearing scheduled on June 29.

No comments:

Post a Comment