A local court In Odisha’s Gajapati district on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) acquitted Azad alias D. Keshava Rao, a prominent leader of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), on charges related to the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, Viswa Hindu Parishad leader and a Sangh Parivar ideologue, in 2008. He was released from Special Jail, Bhubaneswar on Tuesday evening, after spending 15 years in prison.

Additional Sessions Judge (Special Court) Satyanarayan Patra exonerated Mr. Rao in the absence of any conclusive evidence about the Maoist leader’s involvement in the murder.

CPI (Maoist) cadres were said to have killed Saraswati after accusing him of spreading hatred in the name of religion. His murder, on August 23, 2008, then triggered one of the worst episodes of communal violence in Kandhamal district. The Odisha Crime Branch investigated the murder and eight people, including the CPI (Maoist)’s Uday, were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Phulbani additional district and sessions court in Kandhamal in 2013.

‘Suspicion cannot substitute proof’

However, the special court has now ruled that there is not enough evidence to convict the CPI (Maoist)’s Mr. Rao of having been part of the conspiracy to murder Saraswati. “Criminal conspiracy is an independent offence. It is permissible to prove conspiracy by circumstantial evidence, because direct evidence of an agreement is ordinarily difficult to obtain. But the circumstances must be firmly established and must point to the existence of the agreement and to the participation of the accused. Suspicion, however strong, cannot substitute proof.”

The judge noted that seized items produced by the prosecution are insufficient evidence. “On the material supplied, neither recovery is shown to have been made from D. Keshava Rao, nor is there evidence connecting those articles with the accused. These seizures, without scientific or other connecting evidence, cannot be used as substantive proof that the present accused participated in the murders,” the judge observed.

“The prosecution has consequently failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that D. Keshava Rao participated in the murder,” the court concluded.

Published - August 18, 2026 08:28 pm IST