Panigrahi commission begins hearing on Kandhamal riots

The Judicial Commission headed by Basudev Panigrahi, probing into the Kandhamal communal riot in 2007, today commenced its five-day hearing at Balliguda which is scheduled to continue till August 6.

About 32 witnesses were scheduled to record their statements before the commission during the period while nine deponents had been examined on first day, said JC Dash, government counsel to the commission.

The commission has received 488 affidavits relating to Kandhmal riots-2007 and already 180 among them have been examined.

In many cases the response of the deponents were, however, not encouraging as many of them did not attend the commission despite of repeated approaches, Dash said.