Orissa to probe VHP leader's death

NEW DELHI: The Orissa government has ordered judicial probe into the killing of VHP leader Swamy Laxmananada Saraswati and his followers in Kandhamal district. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced this after a high-level meeting in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

The CM said a manhunt has been launched in the district to nab the culprits. An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each will be given the families of the victims. The unidentified assailants gunned down Saraswati and his four followers in the district Saturday night.

In Delhi, BJP leader LK Advani said Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was a self-less Hindu seer who had been working for the upliftment of the underprivileged in the undivided Phulbani district for over four decades.

Reports from Bhubaneswar said prohibitory orders were clamped in communally-sensitive Kandhmal and security was tightened across Orissa after the killing of the VHP leader and his five associates. Activists of VHP and other saffron outfits staged demonstrations, blocked roads and stopped trains at several places since Saturday night after the 85-year-old VHP leader was gunned down at an ashram for girls at Jalespeta. The Hindu outfits have given a call for 12-hour Orissa bandh on Monday.

The situation in the tribal dominated Kandhmal district is ���tense but under control��� after the killing of VHP activists, Kandhmal District Collector Krishan Kumar told a news agency.
A small thatched structure used as a prayer house was torched by unidentified persons at Tentulijhari in Sundergarh district, Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Pranabindu Acharya said.