The Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Nayagarh, on Thursday allowed Odisha police to take top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda on remand.
SDJM Choudury Basudev Patra, while disposing a petition filed by the Crime Branch, said the investigating agency can take the Maoist leader on remand.
The Crime Branch of Police had been probing at least nine cases against Panda for his alleged involvement in the attack on the district headquarters town of Nayagarh in February 2008 and the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in August the same year.
The SDJM court here has informed its decision to the SDJM court at Berhampur regarding its decision of allowing the Crime Branch to take Panda on remand, said government advocate Amiya Patnaik.
The cases against Panda included the landmine explosion in which five people, including a pregnant woman and her three-year-old daughter and a woman health worker on board an ambulance, died at Brahmanigaon in Kandhamal district in November, 2010 attack on a police party in Gosma forests in February, 2008 and loot of Nayagarh armoury in February 2008, the sources added.
Meanwhile, Justice A S Naidu Commission, probing the killing of the VHP leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati, is planning to quiz the Maoist leader. "We are considering the matter. The Commission may interrogate Panda though video conferencing," Justice Naidu said.
Modi is of the view that cases against politicians be decided within a year. If they are guilty, they should be punished, if not they should be discharged.
This Parliament has a record number of lawmakers facing criminal charges - 186 members or 34 per cent of the Lok Sabha - according to research by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
Modi had stressed his administration would steer clear of political vendetta, but he also underscored that the law would be followed and the guilty would be punished, irrespective of their clout.
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