BHUBANESWAR : The crime branch (CB) has sought remand of Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda in connection with the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in August 2008 and attack on district headquarter town of Nayagarh in February 2008.

"We have moved courts in Phulbani and Nayagarh seeking remand of Sabyasachi as he is the prime accused in at least nine sensitive cases being probed by us," additional director general (CB) Bijay Sharma told TOI. "We have prayed the courts to allow us to bring him to Cuttack for interrogation," he added.

The cases in question include landmine explosion in which five people, including a pregnant woman and her three-year-old daughter and a woman health worker, going in an ambulance died at Brahmanigaon in Kandhamal district in November 2010, attack on a police party in Gosma forests in February 2008, loot of Nayagarh armoury in February 2008, police said.

The CB's petition follow the Justice A S Naidu Commission 's move to soon quiz Sabyasachi, who is currently on police remand, through video conferencing. The commission is inquiring into Saraswati's killing and the ethno-communal riots in its aftermath in Kandhamal.

The Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati Smruti Samiti, a body working to promote the saffron leader's cause, has demanded that CBI probe into the senior VHP leader's assassination. "A CBI inquiry can expose the conspiracy behind the killing," the samiti's leader Laxmikanta Dash said, demanding strong action against Maoists Sabyasachi and Azad for their alleged role in the slaying.

This coincided with the state government's revision petition, challenging the Berhampur sub-divisional judicial magistrate's order allowing presence of a family member or counsel during police interrogation of Sabyasachi, failing to come up for hearing at the district and sessions court in Berhampur due to ceasework agitation by lawyers. Members of Ganjam Bar Association paralyzed court works in protest against alleged police assault on a lawyer in Bhubaneswar on July 16. They want a judicial inquiry into the incident.

On Tuesday, the court deferred hearing on the petition, which was filed the previous day, and issued a fresh notice to Sabyasachi, allowing his lawyer to appear on his behalf. Police had refused to take him to court citing security reasons. The Maoist leader is in police custody after SDJM court granted 10-day remand on July 19. Hearing is likely to be held on Thursday, said public prosecutor Jameswar Mishra.

Sabyasachi's lawyer Deepak Patnaik said his client has given him a six-page petition and he will place it before the court once it resumes functioning. He did not disclose the petition's content. Sabyasachi was arrested from Mangalvarempeta Street under Bada Bazaar police limits here late on July 17.

