Odisha court acquits Maoist leader Azad in 2008 Swami Laxmanananda murder case

An Odisha sessions court in Gajapati district on Tuesday acquitted Maoist leader Duna Kesaba Rao alias “Azad” in the 2008 murder of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati after prosecution failed to establish his identity or involvement in the killings through reliable evidence.

Additional sessions judge Satyanarayan Patra acquitted Rao, 45, of charges including murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting, house-trespass and theft, saying suspicion, however strong, cannot substitute proof.

Rao has been in judicial custody in a Bhubaneswar jail since his arrest by Odisha Police in 2010. HT has reviewed the judgement.

“Suspicion, however strong, cannot substitute proof,” the court said, emphasising that a conspiracy can be established through circumstantial evidence only when the circumstances are firmly proved and point clearly to the accused’s participation.

“Criminal jurisprudence does not permit conviction merely because an accused appears to be a possible participant in a grave occurrence. The Court cannot convert suspicion into proof merely because the offence is heinous.”

The acquittal comes nearly 18 years after Saraswati, 84, and four others were gunned down at the Jalespata Kanyashram in Kandhamal district on August 23, 2008, during Janmashtami celebrations.

The killings triggered one of Odisha’s worst episodes of communal violence, in which at least 38 people were killed and 54000 displaced.

The court found serious gaps in the prosecution’s evidence against Rao. Of the 22 witnesses examined, only Brahmachari Madhaba Chaitanya, an ashram inmate and the complainant, identified Rao during the trial through videoconferencing. Chaitanya said he had seen Rao near Saraswati’s room wearing black clothes, a gamchha around his neck and carrying a firearm.

The judge, however, rejected the identification as unreliable noting that Chaitanya’s initial statement to police recorded that the attackers had covered their faces. Other witnesses, including students at the ashram and police personnel also said the assailants wore black clothes and monkey caps or masks that concealed their faces.

The court also said the Crime Branch did conduct a Test Identification Parade during the investigation.

The prosecution’s claim that the assailants left a letter, written in red ink and bearing the name of the CPI (Maoist) Bansadhara Division Committee that claimed responsibility for the killings and was signed “Azad” in English. However, the prosecution neither produced the letter during the trial nor presented a handwriting expert’s opinion or forensic evidence establishing that the signature belonged to Rao.

The court also said that no firearm, ammunition or other weapon was recovered from Rao. Although weapons and a black shirt were seized from other accused during the investigation, the prosecution failed to provide ballistic or other scientific evidence connecting those articles to Rao.

In October 2013, a trial court in Kandhamal district sentenced eight including Maoist Uday alias Pullari Rama Rao to life imprisonment for their role in the murder.