Brinda Karat meets convicts in 2008 Laxmanand Saraswati murder case

PHULBANI: CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat today met the seven persons convicted in the 2008 Laxmanand Saraswati murder case and alleged that the administration had failed to arrest the killers.

"Maoists had declared that it was they who had killed Saraswati. The administration had failed to arrest the real killers," she told reporters here after meeting the convicts in jail here.

Karat, accompanied by CPI(M) Odisha state secretariat member Suresh Panigrahi and social activist Adhikant Singh, met the four tribals and three dalits in jail in connection with the murder, that had led to large scale communal violence in Odisha's Kandhamal district. She also met their wives during the day.

"The police had arrested the seven persons not because they were killers, but because of their religion ... I was told that even Baba's (Saraswati's) men sent their families message saying that the seven were innocent," she claimed adding there was no concrete evidence against them.

The seven convicted have moved to Orissa High Court challenging their conviction, Karat, who was here to participate in a rally at Raikia organised by Justice and Peace for Kandhamal Survivors Platform, said.

"While the seven innocent people had been convicted in the Saraswati murder case, the accused in the cases of murder of 38 people during the riot have either been acquitted or are on the bail. In two cases only, the accused have been sentenced life imprisonment," she said.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, Kavitha Krishnan and the local MLA Jacob Pradhan also participated in the programme.