Cuttack, Dec. 24: The judicial commission that probed the murder of Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008, in Kandhamal, has vindicated the state government's claim about the involvement of Maoists in the crime.

The Justice A.S. Naidu Commission, however, has added its bit by hinting that members of a particular community had also connived with the Maoists.

The community members were also lower-level Maoist cadres in Kandhamal and abhorred Saraswati for thwarting religious conversion.

Senior Maoist leaders felt that the VHP leader's religious activities hurt their plans of nurturing the region as a Red Corridor.

The commission was appointed on September 8, 2008, to look into events and circumstances leading to the killing of Saraswati, along with his four associates, and the subsequent riots.

Justice Naidu, who took charge of the commission following the death of Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra in 2012, submitted his report to the state government on December 22.

The report traces Saraswati's emergence in Kandhamal in 1969 with the setting up of Chakapada ashram, his subsequent shift to Jalespata ashram and his increasing influence in Kandhamal against conversions and cow slaughter.

On his part, Justice Naidu today, in an exclusive interview to The Telegraph, refused to give any details on his findings and conclusion.

However, he said: "As I had a fact-finding job at hand, people, who had first-hand information or were in touch with the incident and had personal knowledge, were examined. The 300 persons, who had been examined, included 87 state government personnel - from constable to director-general of police and from peon to the chief secretary."

The commission had issued notice to Sabyasachi Panda (purported head of a Maoist outfit in the state), who was arrested in July last year.

Panda had filed an affidavit and claimed that he was not a Maoist and the Sunil or Anil referred to in many cases. He had also denied involvement in Sarswati's murder. "It was felt not necessary to examine Sabyasachi Panda as his affidavit was not disputed either by the state counsel or any other parties," Justice Naidu said.

Saraswati's murder was followed by widespread violence in Kandhamal. The subsequent riots claimed 38 lives, left hundreds injured and over 25,000 homeless.

The report suggests remedial measures the government should initiate to prevent such riots in future.

Without giving any details of the 40-odd recommendations in his 1,026-page report, Justice Naidu said: "Violence between the Kandhas (scheduled tribe) and Panas (scheduled caste) is nothing new to Kandhamal. They have occurred year after year on ethnic grounds due to the difference in their socio-economic conditions. But, the violence that followed the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was an aftermath and essentially an ethnic communal riot."

He said Hindu-Christian riots were extremely rare in India. "The ethnic communal violence in Kandhamal after the murder was one such riot," said Justice Naidu.