A fast track court acquitted Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Manoj Pradhan, on Thursday, due to lack of evidence in one of the five cases against him during last year's communal violence in Orissa's Kandhamal district.
Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Orissa assembly, Manoj Kumar Pradhan, a convict in two Kandhamal riot cases, on Wednesday surrendered before a local court in Phulbani after his bail by the Orissa high court was challenged in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has set aside the bail granted to Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Manoj Kumar Pradhan, sentenced to seven years RI for his role in communal riots in Orissa's Kandhamal district where members of the Christian community were targeted.
Sitting Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Manoj Pradhan was on Thursday sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for six years by a fast track court for a murder during the 2008 communal riots in Orissa's Kandhamal district. Fast track court-II judge C R Das convicted Pradhan for the murder of Bikram Nayak, a Christian from Budedipada of Tiangia village under Raikia police station limits on August 26, 2008.
'It would be a folly on our part to believe that the KKK or its Indian version exists only as some dedicated organisation. Rather, the Indian KKK, much like the American counterpart, exists as a fragmented and amorphous collection of independent groups and individuals,' says Shehzad Poonawalla.
