ICC Note:

The Chief Minister of Kerala has called for a re-investigation into the murder of a Hindu leader that sparked the 2008 anti-Christian riots in Orissa, still widely considered the worst instance of Christian persecution in India’s history. This call was made at a book launch where a investigative reporter from Delhi explored the events leading to 7 Christians being accused an convicted of killing the Hindu leader back in 2008. Many claim these 7 Christians are innocent and local Maoist rebels took credit for the murder back in 2008, but that was ignored by Indian courts and the 7 Christians remain imprisoned. Will a new investigation be launched? 

12/19/2016 India (Christian Today) – The chief minister of the south Indian state of Kerala has called for a fresh probe into the 2008 murder of a Hindu leader, which sparked months of rioting, in which almost 100 Christians were killed.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was speaking on Tuesday (13 Dec.) at the launch of the Malayalam translation of ‘Who killed Swami Laxmanananda?’, an investigative book by Catholic journalist Anto Akkara.

Seven Christian men, six of whom are illiterate, were convicted in 2013 of the swami’s murder in Kandhamal, in the north-eastern state of Odisha. The men – three of whom are Dalits, the other four tribals – pleaded not guilty, and in his book Akkara sets out to prove their innocence.

Mr. Vijayan, a senior member of the Communist Party of India who heads a left-wing coalition in Kerala, said: “The book forcefully shows that the allegation that Christians killed the swami is itself a concocted conspiracy. Yet seven innocent Christians have been convicted to life imprisonment for Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati’s murder.

“Anto Akkara has brought out [a] lot of evidences. On the basis of those, a fresh probe must be held into who killed the swami. It is necessary to save the innocents and punish the real culprits.”

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