Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s childhood friend Birabara Behera told Justice AS Naidu Commission of Inquiry on Thursday that Panda and he were into rice trading for many years. “I know Sabyasachi Panda since my childhood as we studied in the same school. later, we went on to do rice trading together. In the last 10-12 years, I have dispatched 70-80 rice consignments to him.
He was living in village then. He used to supply them to other places. However, I am not in touch with him after his arrest,” said Behera, who hails from Mayurjhaila village under Ranpur block in Nayagarh district, deposing before the commission probing the killing of Swami laxmanananda Saraswati. Claiming that the man who appeared on television interview after Saraswati’s killing was not his friend, Behera said; “The masked man’s gestures were different from Sabyasachi’s.” However, he conceded that it was difficult to make out from the covered face and the voice whether that person was Sabyasachi or not.
Meanwhile, the next phase of commission’s hearing has been scheduled for January 29 to 31 as the recording of statements was not over. Panda’s wife Subhashree alias Milli was scheduled to depose on Thursday. However, citing health reasons, she prayed for grant of some time. The commission asked her to submit an affidavit before January 29, after which her statement would be recorded.
Besides, the six journalists who had reportedly interviewed Panda after Saraswati’s murder would depose before the commission again. A copy of the taped interview had been submitted to the commission, following which the interviewers were summoned for hearing. All of them corroborated the version of Panda. Basing on this, the commission had served a notice on Panda to appear before it.
In his affidavit, Panda had dismissed the allegations of his involvement in the killing of Saraswati. The half-masked man appearing on the TV interview claiming the responsibility of killing Saraswati was not him and the voice heard was not his, he had said in the affidavit.