Maoists' linkage with minority community leaders in Kandhamal suspected

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be visiting Kandhamal district on Thursday at a time when the police seems to have found linkage of the arms recovered from the Nandagiri rehabilitation centre in Orissa���s Kandhamal district between the arms looted from the Nayagarh police armoury by the Maoists last year.

The police on Monday had raided the centre following the death of an inmate during illegal manufacturing of crude bombs there. Interrogation of two injured persons by the police led to recovery of arms which were buried under earth inside the camp, police sources revealed.

The firearms include one SLR and three AK 47 rifles. The arms were looted from the Nayagarh police armoury during the ghastly Maoists��� raid on it in February 2008. At least a dozen of police personnel were killed in the incident.

Nandagiri rehabilitation centre was opened for giving shelter to riot-hit Christians in the aftermath of the killing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmananand Saraswati on August 23, last year. The incident had then triggered widespread sectarian violence in the district. Nearly 200 converted Christians were staying at the centre.

Police sources strongly believe in a possible link between the Maoists and some minority community leaders in the riot-hit Kandhamal district. Police suspects that the deceased was a core member of Vamsadhara division of the banned CPI (Maoist). Soon after the bomb explosion, male inmates of the camp have fled the place to avoid police action. Incidentally, women inmates of the camp pleaded ignorance about the incident.

The police had earlier blamed the Maoists for the killing of the VHP leader. But the Sangh Parivar saw hands of Christian militants in the murder as the VHP leader was opposed to conversions by the local churches.