Press Trust of India
Odisha government has appointed
Justice A S Naidu, a retired High Court Judge, as the new head of the judicial
commission probing the killing of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati and the
subsequent communal violence in Kandhamal, official sources said today.
The functioning of the judicial
commission had come to a standstill for four months due to the death of Justice
Sarat Chandra Mohapatra, who had headed the panel.
The home department had already
decided to install Justice Naidu to carry forward the probe and a formal
official notification in this regard is expected to be issued soon, sources
said.
Saraswati was killed on August
23, 2008 in Kandhamal along with four of his disciples. The entire district
witnessed large-scale communal violence in which 38 people were killed and over
4,000 houses burnt.
The state government had set up a
judicial commission headed by Justice Mohapatra to probe the matter from
September 17, 2008. The commission has so far received nearly 700 affidavits.
Sixty-five government and 99
private witnesses have so far been examined by the commission. The examination
of three witnesses were halfway through when justice Mohapatra passed away on
May 12.
The crime branch is investigating
the matter and it had arrested 10 persons and submitted charge sheets against
14 persons in connection with the incident.
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