Two burnt alive during VHP bandh

BHUBANESHWAR: Two persons, one of them a woman caretaker of an orphanage, were burnt alive and a pastor injured on Monday as activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, BJP and other saffron outfits attacked churches and Christian villages in Orissa to protest the killing of a VHP leader last Saturday.

The road and rail traffic was badly hit and most business establishments and offices remained closed. Police resorted to cane-charges to disperse mobs in many places.
The daylong violence also saw the Congress moving a no-confidence motion against the BJD-BJP government over the law and order condition in the state.

The saffron parties had called the bandh to protest the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati, 80, who was shot dead along with four of his disciples at his ashram in Kandhamal, around 340km west of Bhubaneswar in central Orissa.

Police, who suspect Maoists are the perpetrators, have arrested five persons in connection with the murders. Saraswati was a member of the VHP’s central advisory committee.

The bandh turned violent as the protesters attacked and burnt down a number of churches at Padmapur in Baragarh and Khurda, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Koraput, Boudh, Mayurbhanj, Jagatsinghpur and Kandhamal districts, as also in the state capital Bhubaneswar. Police sources said 40 houses were set ablaze in Phulbani town.

The protesters burnt down an orphanage, run by a Christian organisation, at Phutpali village in Padmapur with the caretaker woman and the pastor inside. While the woman was burnt to death, the pastor sustained serious burns and was rushed to hospital, agencies quoted Deputy Superintendent of Police (Baragarh) GC Mohapatra as saying.

Twenty children, who were at the orphanage, managed to escape, sources said.
Another person, Rasananda Pradhan, was burnt to death when his house was set ablaze at Rupa village in Kandhamal district where the VHP leader was gunned down.

The agitators also attacked several missionary schools and forced people from the minority community to remain indoors. They also burnt down a number of police vehicles and fought pitched battles with policemen in the volatile Kandhamal district, where the agitators burnt down a village near the ashram where the VHP leader was killed.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik said the police would make all possible efforts to nab Saraswati’s killer even as the BJP legislators created a din in the assembly, forcing the speaker to adjourns the House till Tuesday.

Meanwhile, VHP international secretary-general Praveen Togadia arrived at the Chakapada Ashram to take part in Saraswati’s funeral.