Indicating active involvement of Maoist elements in the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxamananda Saraswati and four others, the Crime Branch of Orissa police on Friday submitted chargesheet against seven accused. The chargesheet, filed in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Baliguda in Kandhamal district four months after the killing, said Maoist leaders had formed a local militia involving villagers for the crime.
The situation in Orissa's Kandhamal district, which was hit by communal riots 3 years ago, has vastly changed and central forces have been withdrawn from there, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday. "The situation has vastly changed," Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told the apex court which is monitoring the situation in the district ever since it was affected by the riots following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, whose killing last year had triggered riots, had rejected the police's request for deployment of security personnel within the campus of Jalespeta ashram on the grounds that it would not suit its atmosphere.
The Chinese incursions sparked sharp reactions from Indian political parties on Thursday with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam saying India needed a government with "steel in its spine and not jelly" so that it does not become a "punching bag", while the Samajwadi Party demanded to know the country's military preparedness.
Concerned over reports of United States President-elect Barack Obama's transition team member Sonal Shah's links with right-wing Hindu groups, some Indian-Americans have expressed fear that it might possibly influence the US policies towards India
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Wednesday accused the Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Orissa of working under "pressure" from missionary elements and the Centre to protect real "killers" of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and demanded a central law to ban religious conversion.
The Special Investigating Team probing the 2002 post-Godhra riot cases was prejudiced against him, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia alleged on Tuesday.
The first death anniversary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati, whose killing triggered anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal district in Orissa was peaceful on Thursday.
"Maoists were given money to train certain youth of a particular community to eliminate Saraswati," inspector general of police, crime branch, Arun Ray told PTI asserting the mastermind of the killings had been identified.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia on Wednesday said the Nehru-Liaquat Ali pact in regard to protecting religious places should be implemented in both Pakistan and India.
The CPM leader claimed that the recent incidents in Orissa have highlighted the use of violence by these outfits against Christians, including the use of weapons and inflammatory materials to burn houses and churches
The Gujarat high court on Monday allowed the Special Investigation Team to take voice samples of the two accused in the Naroda Gam case for matching it with the audio-video evidence in the case.Justice M R Shah, hearing the SIT's appeal challenging the special riot court's order, allowed the agency to collect voice samples of Babu Bajrangi and former Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel, accused in the Naroda Gam case.
Seven persons have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for two years by two fast-track courts in Phulbani for their involvement in the communal riots in Kandhamal district in 2008.Twenty one others were acquitted by the fast track courts, which disposed off five cases of rioting, violence and house burning in the aftermath of the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati in August, 2008.
Firebrand Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia was arrested on Friday alongwith his supporters by the Orissa Police as they tried to enter riot-hit Kandhamal district, defying a ban on their visit.
Peace prevailed in Karnataka's Hubbali town on Monday, a day after a mob went on the rampage over a social media post that saw a police station and a Hanuman temple coming under attack, even as the police arrested 89 persons in connection with the incident.
Condemning the brutal beheading of two Sikh traders in Pakistan, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia, said the issue calls for a war against Pakistan.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Saturday demanded that a grand Ram temple be built in the 67 acre plot surrounding the disputed site in Ayodhya and said 'no new mosque' can be built there as it has been established as the birth place of Lord Ram.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists on Friday tore down the posters of Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'My Name is Khan' and caused ruckus in a bid to halt the release of the film in Ahmedabad and Jamnagar in Gujarat.
With just two days to go for the Ayodhya title suits verdict, social organisations and individuals are making peace appeals through SMS.
A local court in Ahmedabad on Saturday sent former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani accused in 2002 riot cases to 24-hour police custody and remanded co-accused former Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel to judicial custody.
A day before the Special Bench of the Allahabad High Court meets to make a last ditch effort to find an amicable solution to the Ayodhya case, leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad held a marathon meeting in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss the issue.
Whether the Ayodhya case is settled through reconciliation or through a judgment is something that remains to be seen. An application had been filed before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court seeking a direction to both parties to settle this matter amicably so as to avoid any controversy that might follow after the judgment is pronounced.
The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team, in its affidavit, had said that according to some 15 witnesses, Kodnani was present in the Naroda area and was instigating the rioters. Deposing before the SIT, the witnesses had said they saw Kodnani distributing kerosene to the rioters, which she had brought in her vehicle.
The 17th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid largely remained a non-event in Ayodhya, in spite of the various programmes organised by political parties to mark the occasion. While the Vishwa Hindu Parishad observed it as 'Shaurya Diwas' (Valour Day) and the Babri Masjid Action Committee and the Samajwadi Party observed it as 'Black Day', the events held by them witnessed negligible participation by the locals.
While charges against top Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders including Lal Krishna Advani, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar were already dropped by the high court, the most prominent among those who were on the firing line was former Faizabad district magistrate R N Srivastava and mafia don turned BJP member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Saran Singh
Cricketer Harbhajan Singh, actor Mona Singh and an entertainment channel were on Thursday issued summons by a local court for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with their Ravana-Sita dance act in a reality show last year. The summons, returnable by April 22, were issued by First Class Judicial Magistrate Rajneesh on a petition filed by NGO activist and local advocate, Arvind Thakur, and spokesman of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Vijay Singh.
More than 5,000 security men were deployed and a helicopter pressed into surveillance on Wednesday in riot-hit Kandhamal district of Orissa as Christians there prepared to celebrate Christmas amidst a feeling of insecurity.The government sealed all entry points to Kandhamal, which witnessed large-scale violence following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmananda Saraswati.The state government has identified Sambalpur and Sundergarh as sensitive districts.
VHP has cancelled its 18-day 'Chaturved Swahakar Yajna' that was scheduled to start from Monday.
Charging the Centre with appeasing minorities for electoral gains, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Saturday called for a nationwide agitation to highlight the 'oppression of Hindus'."On one hand, the government is not executing death sentence to Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and on the other it is torturing an innocent person like Sadhvi Pragya Singh, who has been falsely implicated in the Malegaon blast case," VHP leader Venkatesh Abdev said.
Vowing not to give an 'inch of land belonging to Lord Jagannath of Puri' for the proposed Vedanta University in Orissa, Vishwa Hindu Parishad international secretary General Pravin Bhai Togadia on Wednesday said his outfit would fight tooth and nail to protect the 'land of the Lord'. "We vehemently oppose the move of the Naveen Patnaik-led government to hand over thousands of acres of land belonging to Lord Jagannath and the VHP," he said.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed to people to celebrate Hindu new year Ugadi and 'Hosa Tadaku' festivals peacefully without disturbing law and order.
RSS leader Dhanu Pradhan, who was said to be on the Maoists' hitlist, was gunned down by three suspected extremists at Kumarigaon village under Brahmanigaon police station area in Kandhamal at around 1300 hrs, sources said.
The Special Investigation Team probing the alleged role of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in post-Godhra killing of ex-Congress Member of Parliament Ehasan Jafri on Friday submitted its report to the Supreme Court.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia was questioned by Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team, which is probing some cases of 2002 riots, for more than four hours in Gandhinagar on Monday.
"As the government has failed in matters of internal security, the Bajrang Dal has started constituting security committees," Surendra Jain, a spokesman of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a sister Sangh Parivar outfit, told PTI in Lucknow on Wednesday.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has sought a ban on the upcoming Kamal Hassan Tamil flick 'Uttama Villain', claiming it would offend the religious sensibilities of Hindus.
Talking about the donation received by VHP from President Kovind, Alok Kumar said, "He is the first citizen of the country. So we went to him to initiate this drive and he met us with his family and donated a sum of Rs 5,00,100 and gave his good wishes for the success of the mission."
Top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda has claimed responsibility for the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four others, which lead to large scale flare-up in Orissa's Kandhamal district, according to two local television channels.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia, who was summoned by the Special Investigation Team for questioning in a 2002 Gujarat riot case, failed to appear on Monday before the Supreme Court-constituted agency in Ahmedabad.
'Regarding the attacks on churches, I can say that most were politically motivated. When some activists were protesting against conversions, vested interests in some cases have taken advantage and gone on a rampage. I blame the politicians for this,' says M B Puranik, VHP's Karnataka convenor
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