Kandhamal: Slain swami's school receives threat

A residential school for girls founded by late Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district has received a threat that its authorities would meet the same fate as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader who was killed in 2008.

"The caller, who rang up yesterday (on Thursday), accused the management of the school, Shankaracharya Sanskrit Kanyashram, of beating up girls on the pretext of maintaining discipline," police said.

"I received two telephone calls, one at 3:41 pm and another at 4:20 pm yesterday. The caller threatened me and the headmistress Rita Kesri to run the Kanyashram properly or face the fate of Saraswati," the school's Managing Secretary Kabi Chandra Nath told PTI over phone.

Superintendent of Police (Kandhamal) S Praveen Kumar said, "We have enhanced security around the Kanyashram after the school management lodged an FIR at Tumudibandha police station last evening."

Eleven personnel of the India Reserve Battalion has been deployed at the school, housing 187 girls, located at Jalespeta where Saraswati and four others were shot dead on August 23, 2008 leading to riots in the district.

Tumudibandha police station in-charge R K Jena said a case has been registered under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) and Section 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code.