While the nine-day remand of Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda is ending on Friday, fresh moves are on to take him on further remand by the Crime Branch cops, who are investigating into the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami laxmanananda Saraswati.
Panda has allegedly confided before a group of mediapersons that he and his team were behind the murder of the spiritual leader in his ashram at Jaleshpeta in Kandhamal district in August 2008.
Sources said that the CB police have already approached a court in Kandhamal district seeking remand of Panda for 14 more days to interrogate him in connection with the seer’s murder case. A top Crime Branch cop here said that the investigating police officers have obtained the voice samples of the Maoist leader and would send it to the forensic laboratory to match it with the voice of Panda recorded by media men.
It may be mentioned here that the Crime Branch police are quizzing the Maoist leader for over a week now in connection with his involvement in the 2008 Nayagarh police armoury loot case and attack on Nayagarh police station in the same year. Panda was arrested by the Brahmapur police last month from a hideout located in a busy marketplace of the southern Odisha city.