Bhubaneswar: Eight years after Christians in Odisha were attacked following the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a major section of the media in the eastern Indian state has rewritten the Kandhamal script.

“People have been fooled,” read the headline in the ‘Sambad,’ Odisha’s leading daily, on the press conference and release of the investigative book ‘Who killed Swami Laxmanananda?’ authored by journalist Anto Akkara.

‘Truth Vs Hype: Probe Report of Swami Laxmanananda’s murder released,” ‘Orissa Post’ titled its five column report on the investigative book projecting as if it was an official report about Kandhamal, the Odisha district where the Christians were targeted in 2008.

The function was held at the Press Club of Odisha in Bhubaneswar, the state capital, on September 22.

“The Book “Who killed Swami Laxmanananda? Speaks truth” wrote another Odiya daily ‘Nitidin.’

“The nationally acclaimed book lays bare one of the biggest frauds in the nation’s history and travesty of justice with the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in August 2008 and the consequent orchestrated bloodshed in Kandhamal,” wrote ‘The Pioneer’ English daily on the fraud exposed by the investigative book.

“Everybody has right to live, right to speak, and right to have access to judiciary system. So also the innocent victims of riots and Christians who are unjustly blamed for the killing,” said Prafulla Samantara, eminent social activist and president of Lokshakti Abhijan, while releasing the book with ‘Foreword’ by veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar.

“Christians are blamed for Swami Laxmanananda’ murder. It was a plot against Christians. It was injustice to the truth. Police arrested 7 innocents instead of the culprits. Let the truth come out,” Samantara added.

“This Book ‘Who Killed Swami Laxmanananda?’ could be used as a source for government for professional investigation, a source for the justice,” pointed out Dhirendra Panda, convener of Civil Society Forum on Human Rights.

Introducing the gathering, Narendra Mohanty who heads Campaign Against Fabricated Cases and is State Convener of India Social Action Forum (INSAF) lamented: “Eight years have been passed since the Kandhamal riot. But till today justice has not been delivered to the innocent convicts of Kandhamal.”

Displaying the zigzag map of the funeral procession that crisscrossed Kandhamal for two days to incite the Hindu mobs, the journalist author noted that this resulted in killing of dozens of Christians besides 300 churches and 6,000 Christian houses being plundered in the orchestrated violence that went unabated weeks.

“The Kandhamal conflagration was a conspiracy hatched by the Sangh Parivar at the highest level and executed in Kandhamal. But its cover up went horribly wrong,” asserted Akkara holding aloft fake books on Kandhamal allegedly published by Sangh Parivar under fake names Michael Parker and Brannon Parker.

The author who has made 23 trips to Kandhamal pointed out: “The illiterate Hindus masses were fooled by the orchestrated propaganda. They were incited to attack police stations and kill even a policeman. Even the media got carried away by this propaganda.”

“It is a shame for the nation and the judicial system that seven innocent Christians are languishing in jail for a crime they never committed,” Akkara told the over 50 journalists who attended the press meet.

During his 40-minute multi-media presentation, the author produced several tell-tale evidences exposing the Kandhamal fraud and travesty of justice with seven innocent Christians convicted to life imprisonment.

Akkara pointed that the seven convicts are the ‘second batch killers’ framed by the investigation team at the behest of Sangh Parivar. The original ‘first batch of killers’ named by VHP leader Praveen Togadia – not the police – have been let off by the police.

The transfer of two judges who led the murder trial, the language of the shocking verdict and contradictions in the verdict raise questions about the verdict itself, Akkara noted.

Hence, the journalist author said: “It is time to rewrite the Kandhamal script. As the motto of the nation says ‘Satyameva Jayate’.”