Release innocent persons held for VHP leader's murder: GCIC

A Christian body today demanded immediate release of seven members of the community saying they were falsely accused of murdering a senior VHP leader and four others after an Odisha court convicted a Maoist ultra in the same case.
"Five precious years in the lives of the seven innocent people have been wasted away at Phulbani jail in Odisha without a fair trial... Hope they would be become free soon and join their anxiously waiting families," said a statement from Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).
A court in Odisha's Kandhamal district convicted a Maoist leader for the murder five years back of senior VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati and four others.

Additional Sessions Judge Rajendra Kumar Tosh held Pulari Rama Rao alias Uday, a Maoist leader from Andhra Pradesh, guilty for the murder of Saraswati and four of his disciples during Janmastami celebrations on August 23, 2008, at an ashram in Kandhamal district.
Seven persons - Gadanath Chalanseth, Bijaya Kumar Shyamseth, Buddha Nayak, Sanatan Badamajhi, Duryadhan Sunamajhi, Bhaskar Sunamajhi and Munda Badamajhi - were convicted yesterday in the case.
"The imprisonment is all the more absurd given that Maoists freely took responsibility for the crime and have been formally charged as the main accused in the case," it said.
The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment for all the eight convicts on October 3.