File picture of Laxamananand Saraswati

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 9: The Kandhamal district administration heaved a sigh of relief as the death anniversary of Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmananand Saraswati, coinciding with Janmashtami celebrations, passed off peacefully today.

Security was tight across the tribal-dominated district, which had witnessed widespread communal violence four years ago when Saraswati, along with four of his followers, was gunned down at his Jalaspeta ashram on the Janmashtami day.

Ever since the Hindutva outfits, organised under the banner of Swami Laxmananand Saraswati Smruti Nyasa (SLSSN), have been trying to keep his memory alive by observing his death anniversary.

Sources said the followers of Swami gathered at his Jalaspeta and Chakapad ashrams in Kandhamal to pay tributes to him. They sang devotional songs and performed yajna (fire sacrifices) at Jalaspeta, where a special prayer meeting was held.

Security had been beefed up in all the sensitive areas of the district since yesterday and police and paramilitary force jawans were checking all incoming vehicles. Police deployment was particularly heavy at places of worship, which the rioting mobs had targeted in the wake of Saraswati’s killing in 2008.

No untoward incident was reported from any part of the district. “The day has been incident free. We had taken adequate care to ensure foolproof security,” said am officer.

Former state BJP president Suresh Pujari expressed dissatisfaction at the progress of investigation in Swami’s murder, saying that the main accused was still at large. But, senior BJD leaders denied allegations of any indifference by the government as far as the probe was concerned. Asserting that the government was doing its best, they said the crime branch had already filed its chargesheet naming top Maoist leaders such as Sabyasachi Panda and Dunna Keshav Rao alias Azad as the chief accused in the case.

Not satisfied with the crime branch probe, leaders of some of the outfits, sympathetic to the cause Saraswati had taken up in Kandhamal, have been demanding a CBI probe into the murder. They allege that government is indulging in vote bank politics by putting the blame for the seer’s killing on the Maoists.