Christian MP from Orissa accused in Swami's murder; Cong calls it "false and absurd"

A Christian MP from Orissa has been accused in the murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati on August 23. The claim has however been refuted by the Rajya Sabha member and former civil servant Radhakanta Nayak who called it a "conspiracy".

Nayak is also to sue the media for linking his name in the murder of the local VHP leader. In addition, the Congress ruling party has also defended the MP and called the allegations "politically motivated" and "malicious".

Ajay Maken, All India Congress Committee in-charge of Orissa, in a press release said, "The allegations were nothing but malicious conjectures with no evidence in its support."

It is clearly an attempt to divert attention from the "miserable performance" of the state police, he said.

"From Christian missionaries to Naxals to R K Nayak and the Congress, the Government through its anonymous 'sources' was pointing desperate fingers towards all but the real perpetrators of the murder, who are still at large and the threat of violence still hangs in the air," said Maken.

AICC spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said, "It all seems politically motivated. After a gap of so many months, the (BJD-BJP) Government comes to know that somebody other than the original claimant of the crime (Maoists) is responsible for it. We do hope that truth comes out. We believe in the judicial system of the country."

Maken in a statement to The Indian Express added, the report was "totally false and absurd" and was a "deliberate attempt to malign me and my political party."

Nayak proving his innocence and substantiating it with his services to the government said: "I have served the country for 36 long years and held a number of important posts in Orissa and at the Centre before retiring as Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Rural Development in 1997. I have also set up a National Institute of Social Work and Social Sciences located in Bhubaneswar which caters to the educational and employment needs of weaker sections...without any consideration of religion, caste or political affiliation."

"This attitude of social service only has led me to politics and that too to the Congress Party, which believes and acts along the lines of its lofty philosophies of secularism, pluralism and nonviolence," he said. "I condemn violence of any nature, including the murder of Swamy Lakshmanananda Saraswati and the massacre that followed in Kandhamal," he said.

The UPA govt. has slammed the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its Hindu affiliates for its "unproven claims."

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Orissa police is said to be preparing a case against Nayak and his supporters.

Swami Laxmananda and four of his aides were murdered in his ashram in Kandhamal district, on August, this year. Although Maoists claimed responsibility for the dastardly act, Hindu fundamentalists accused Christians and indulged in large-scale violence on its community.