Ananda Marga considered L N Mishra as "big sinner"

Lalit Narayan Mishra was targeted by Ananda Margas as they considered the then Railway Minister as a "big sinner" responsible for bringing their enemies, the Congress and the Left, closer, a Delhi court today noted.
Referring to the statement given by Vikram, who became an approver in the case, the court noted in its 1090-page order that he was told by convict Santoshanand that Mishra was one of the most corrupt minister of the Indira Gandhi government.
District judge Vinod Goel observed that during his cross-examination, Vikram had revealed that the Ananda Margas were considering the option of assassinating senior ministers, including then Gandhi, to secure release of jailed cult leader Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar.

"Santoshanand told (Vikram) that by eliminating the big personalities of the government i.E. Ministers and Indira Gandhi, the government would be perplexed and they would be able to secure release of Baba (Sarkar)," the court noted.
"Santoshanand further told (Vikram) that L N Mishra was the most corrupt minister of Indira sarkar (government), a big sinner, responsible for bringing their enemies i.E. Communists closer to the Congress. The said minister had a dominant role to play in Bihar politics and he was the hindrance for release of Baba (Sarkar)," Vikram had told the court during his cross-examination in the case.

Vikram was among the three Ananda Margas who had hurled a hand grenade at Mishra during a function at Samastipur Railway station on January 2, 1975 which led to the death of the then Railways Minister and two others. Vikram later turned approver in the case and was granted pardon by the court.

Sarkar alias Baba, the then employee in Eastern Railway, had founded 'Anand Marg Parcharak Sangh' on January 9, 1955, with an object to establish 'Sadvipra Raj', a government of moralists.
The court, in its verdict holding four persons as convict in the case, relied on the manuscript with a printed leaflet which was found in a media organisation's office at Patna on the next day which referred to Samastipur blast and suggested further threat to government, Gandhi, officers of CID, police and courts and all those who oppose their cult.

The court on December 8 had convicted three Ananda Margas Santoshanand, Sudevanand and Gopalji and Ranjan Dwivedi for conspiring and killing Mishra and two others in a blast on January 2, 1975.