Justice Naidu Commission submits report on Kandhamal riots

BHUBANESWAR: Justice A S Naidu Commission probing the 2008 ethno-communal riot in Odisha's Kandhamal district in which at least 38 people were killed, today submitted its report to the state government.

"We have handed over the commissions' report in two volumes to the home secretary today," A K Patnaik, secretary of the commission told reporters.

Not revealing the commission's findings and recommendations made in the report, Patnaik said a total of 825 affidavits were filed before the commission and statements of 300 witnesses were recorded.

The state government had set up the judicial commission on September 8, 2008 after ethno-communal riots broke out in Kandhamal district and other parts of the state following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad ( VHP) leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his associates at his Chakapada Ashram on the night of August 23.

Saraswati's killing had triggered communal violence in Kandhamal and adjoining areas in which at least 38 people were killed.

Riots broke out in different parts of Kandhamal during the VHP leader's funeral procession from Jalespata ashram to Chakapada ashram located at the other end of the district on August 25.

More than 25,000 Christians had fled their homes in Kandhamal after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs, who held Christians responsible for the murders.

The police, however, blamed the murders on the Maoists.

Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra was appointed as the one man commission to probe Saraswati's killing and the subsequent riots. However, Justice Mahpatra passed away in 2012 before completing the inquiry. Then Justice A S Naidu was appointed by the government to head the one-man probe panel in 2012.