India: Accused riot leader nominated for elective office
The Hindu political party BJP has nominated for elective office a man now in police custody and accused of leading anti-Christian mob violence in Orissa state, India, that began last August.
Manoj Pradhan is the prime accused in last year’s ethno-communal riots in Kandhmal and currently behind bars. But that hasn’t stopped BJP from giving a ticket to Pradhan to contest from the communally-split G Udayagiri assembly seat.
More than 600 people were arrested in connection with the violence that left over 120 people dead in Kandhmal after the killing of senior VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in August last year. Cops described Pradhan as a “prize catch”. […] “Pradhan was the field commander who allegedly led mobs at various places and engaged in violence,” police said.
Police have charged Pradhan in over a dozen cases of arson and murder.
Another BJP nominee, Ashok Satu, blamed “Christian terrorists” for Swami Saraswati’s murder that touched off the mayhem. In fact, however, the swami was murdered by a Maoist group that took credit for the killing.
Over 3000 Orissa Christians remain in relief camps, fearing their lives are at risk if they return home.