VHP: Christians killed Swami Laxmananda, demands apology from Pope

Asserting Christians were behind the murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), on Friday, demanded an apology from Pope.

The arrests of seven Christians by Orissa police is the most substantial proof to point Christians involvement, said the international Hindu organisation, an offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

"All accused in today's charge sheet are Christians. One of them, Bijay Kumar Sanaseth is also a priest. So we demand that the Pope should apologise to Hindu society for this cowardly inhuman act by Christians," VHP Secretary General Pravin Togadia said.

The claim however contradicts with the preliminary chargesheet filed by the Orissa CID, which reiterated Maoists were involved in the crime. Crime branch SP Yatindra Koyal said the Maoist hand was clear from the evidence.

Earlier the VHP had claimed that a conspiracy was hatched at a local church in Orissa to eliminate the VHP leader.

The accusation, despite Maoists claiming responsibility for the murder, said, 17 Christians mobilized at Bethikala church in Kandhamal, to intrigue the murder, due to Saraswati's opposition to Christian missionaries and Church activities.

"The crime branch charge-sheet also indicates a conspiracy before the killing occurred on August 23. Maoists may or may not have conspired to kill him but prima facie it is clear that his killing was a fell out more of religious hatred than anything else," Togadia yesterday said.

Orissa Christians have however refuted the claims and called it "erroneous". The members of Bethikala church filed a defamation case against the Hindu Jagaran Samukhya for spreading rumors and alleged that the signatures and the content in the document circulated were fully fabricated.

"Not only our signatures were forged, the contents of the document were also fabricated," Rev Fr Prafulla Ku Sabhapati, President of Bethikala Parish Council, said.

The crime branch of the Orissa police has sought permission to conduct brain-mapping and narco analysis of one of the accused.

The murder of Saraswati and four of his aides in Jalaspeta ashram on August, 2008, triggered largest ever violence on Christians in India. Hindu mobs went on rampage, killed dozens and torched hundreds of churches and Christian homes.