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State rejects demand for CBI probe into VHP leader’s killing

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday rejected the demands for a CBI probe into the killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmanananda and the subsequent communal violence that claimed several lives in Kandhamal district and outside.

This is for the second time that Mr. Patnaik rejected the demand for a CBI probe into the killing and the communal violence saying that the Crime Branch of the State police was already investigating into the killing of the Swami.

A judicial inquiry had also been ordered into the killing of the Swami and the violence in the aftermath of the incident, Mr. Patnaik said.

The Chief Minister’s reactions came soon after AICC’s Orissa in-charge and Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken demanded that the State government should write to the Centre for a CBI investigation into the killing of Lakshmanananda and the communal violence that followed the murder. Blaming the Naveen Patnaik Government for its failure to provide security to the Swami and contain the communal violence, Mr. Maken said that the Crime Branch probe would not serve any purpose.

The government should order a CBI probe to identify the guilty, he said.

Meanwhile, Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare visited the violence-affected Kandhamal district and asked the district administration to initiate all measures to restore peace.

Mr. Bhandare, who visited several riot-affected villages and a relief camp in the afternoon, will on Wednesday visit Jalespata ashram where Lakshmanananda was killed on August 23.

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State rejects demand for CBI probe into VHP leader’s killing

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