Security beefed up at Kandhamal ashram after threats

BHUBANESWAR - Security has been beefed up at an ashram in Orissa’s communally sensitive Kandhamal district after inmates complained they had received death threats, police said Friday.

Kabi Chandra Nath, the in charge of the ashram at Jaleshpata village, complained that he as well as the headmistress of the residential school for girls located inside the ashram premise received a threat call each Thursday, Ramakanta Jena, in charge of the local Tumudibandh police station said.

“The caller allegedly threatened them to run the school properly or face the fate of ashram founder Swami Laxmananda Saraswati,” Jena told IANS.

Saraswati, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader was killed with four of his aides by unknown gunmen at the ashram Aug 23, 2008. The killings had sparked widespread communal violence in the state in which at least 38 people were killed.

Although police had blamed Maoists for the killings, thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs.

Nath is also the managing secretary of the residential school for girls named as Shankaracharya Sanskrit Kanyashram. The school, located inside the ashram premises, has 184 students, he said.

“We don’t believe it (the threat) has any communal angle. However we have beefed up security at the ashram,” Jena said.

Kandhamal district is about 200 km from Bhubaneswar.