Bhubaneswar, May 12: The probe into the 2008 Kandhamal violence has received a setback with the death of Justice S.C. Mohapatra, who was heading the Commission of Inquiry to probe into the killings of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati and the subsequent riots in the communally sensitive district in 2008.

The 79-year-old legal expert passed away at a private hospital in the city this morning after a month-long illness. He was suffering from multi-organ failure.

There are speculations as to who would succeed him and how the unfinished probe process would be carried forward.

Retired high court judge A.S. Naidu, who is presently heading a number of Commissions of Inquiry, said the proceedings of the Mohapatra Commission would not be terminated abruptly. His successor would start the work from where Mohapatra had left off.

Mohapatra, a retired high court judge and former Lokpal, was appointed to head the Commission of Inquiry on September 3, 2008, to analyse the sequence of events and circumstances leading to the killing of Laxmananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008, and the incidents of violence in the aftermath.

Though the inquiry commission was appointed for six months, its term was extended five times. During its three-and-half-year term, the commission had received more than 500 affidavits and evidence from around 200 persons had been recorded. Sixty-five government employees and 101 private individuals had deposed before it.

Prior to his appointment to the Commission of Inquiry on the Kandhamal riots, Mohapatra had served as judge of Orissa and Allahabad High Courts. Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Justice V. Gopala Gowda, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, and members of the legal fraternity paid tributes to Mohapatra.