Tthe name of RSS leader Indresh Kumar, who is already in the dock for his alleged role in several Hindutva terror attacks, has now been mentioned as one of the masterminds of the Kandhamal riots of 2007- 2008 in which Christians were targeted.
The Survivors Association of Kandhamal (SAK) has approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P. Chidambaram, demanding a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the riots. The Kandhamal survivors have also met AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh, seeking his assistance to press for an NIA or CBI probe into the disturbances.
The survivors and Christian leaders alleged that “Sanghi” terror suspects Kumar, Swami Asimanand and Lt Col Shrikant Purohit were the brains behind the Kandhamal violence, which killed about 100 people. They said the situation was normal in Kandhamal for two days after the murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswati, allegedly by Maoists. But after Kumar visited the area for the swami’s cremation, Christians started getting targeted.
The survivors also passed on “evidence” to the PM and home minister on Kumar’s presence in the region soon after the murder of Lakshmanananda. They said certain other “secular” MPs had been approached as well so that their demands could be raised during the ongoing Budget session of Parliament. “There are news reports about Kumar’s involvement in various bomb blasts. He had visited Kandhamal soon after the swami’s murder. He had also written in an RSS mouthpiece that Christians killed the swami. We believe he has masterminded the attacks against Christians in Kandhamal,” SAK leader and social activist Ajay Kumar Singh said.
He added that the association had decided to raise the matter with the Orissa governor, too. CPM leader Brinda Karat, who had earlier highlighted the problems of the Kandhamal victims in the Rajya Sabha, had also been approached. In a letter to Chidambaram, the All- India Christian Council said the progress of the rehabilitation work for the victims was very slow. “ Despite two fast- track courts, more than two- thirds of the cases tried have ended in acquittals.
Among the accused is a BJP MLA who continues to roam free despite a Supreme Court order cancelling his bail,” council leader John Dayal said. “Police records confirmed his involvement in anti- Christian riots in Pune, Jabalpur and Bhopal. Lt Col Purohit admitted that two Christians were killed in Orissa in August 2008 by one Sameer Kulkarni at the behest of Abhinav Bharat. The Military Intelligence has also linked these people with Asimanand,” Dayal said in the letter. “We urge you to order an inquiry into this conspiracy against the Christian community by central organisations such as the NIA or CBI at the earliest,” he wrote.
TAINTED PAST, PRESENT TENSE
An RSS national executive member, he was the strategist behind the successful communalisation of the Amarnath land grant agitation in 2008 He is regarded as one of the Sangh’s chief strategists, and is apparently close to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat Indresh is also the force behind the Muslim Ekta Manch He has been named by the Rajasthan ATS in its sensational chargesheet in the October 11, 2007, Ajmer Dargah blast in which three persons were killed and over a dozen injured He is also said to have plotted other Hindutva terror attacks It has also been alleged that he was the brain behind the Kandhamal riots of 2007- 2008 in which Christians were targeted.
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