JOIN USTop Maoists chargesheeted in Kandhamal seer murder case
The 2008 killing had triggered an unprecedented Hindu-Christian riot in the backward Orissa district.
The other Maoists whose names have figured in the 112-page additional charge sheet are Udaya, Jadu, Ajad, Dasru, Lalu and Lakhmu. Cases have been registered against all of them under Sections 302, 449, 380 and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) besides Section 25 and 27 of the Arms Act for conspiring and executing the killing of octogenarian religious leader in his Ashram at Jalaspeta in Kandhamal.
Of the seven, two—Udaya and Jadu—are currently in police custody. The remaining five, including Panda, who was involved in several major Naxal attacks in Orissa during the last five year are still at large.
The crime branch which had taken up the investigation into the high profile murder soon after its execution had filed its first interim charge sheet in January 2009 which had also named seven people. All of them have already been arrested by the police. However, none of them had any Naxal links.