Bhubaneswar, Sep 6 (PTI) The opposition BJP and Congress on Wednesday slammed Odisha's BJD government for not making public the judicial commission report on the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati even eight years after it was submitted.

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The issue was raised as the inmates of Saraswati's Jaleshpeta Ashram in Kandhamal district observed his 15th death anniversary.

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Saraswati along with his four associates was gunned down at the ashram district while observing the Janmashtami festival on August 23, 2008. It led to large-scale violence in the district leaving 40 people dead.

The Odisha government had instituted a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Sarat Mohapatra. As Justice Mohapatra passed away, the commission was headed by Justice A S Naidu to probe the assassination of Saraswati.

Though the Commission submitted its report in 2015, the state government is yet to make the findings public, said state VHP leader S Satpathy.

Hitting out at the state government, state BJP vice-president B N Tripathy said people should know the findings of the probe conducted by the Commission.

Stating that Saraswati dedicated his life to the development of tribals, former BJP state president Samir Mohanty claimed that the culprits have not been punished.

“Even though 15 years have passed since the incident, it is surprising that the state government has not expressed any urgency in this regard of Swamiji's murder,” Mohanty said attacking the state government for not presenting the commission report in the assembly.

Senior Congress leader and MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said the BJD and the BJP were running a coalition government when the VHP leader was killed.

BJP was initially very happy when the Commission of Inquiry was formed, but the party was subsequently dumped by the BJD, he said.

The Congress legislator wondered why the state government was trying to “suppress” the report public as people have every right to know the findings of the investigation conducted by the judicial panel.

A total of seven people were arrested in the case while it was alleged that Maoists were involved in the killing of the VHP leader.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)