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{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox criminal
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Manoj Pradhan
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| known_for = Kandhamal riots
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| criminal_charge = 4 Murders (2008)
| conviction_penalty = 7 year imprisonment (2008) 6 year imprisonment (2010) 
| conviction_status = Convicted in 2 undertrial in 2
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| conviction = Murder (2008) Murder (2010) 
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{{Infobox AM
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| constituency_AM1 = [[2009 Odisha Legislative Assembly election|10th Odisha Assembly]] from [[G. Udayagiri (Odisha Vidhan Sabha constituency)]] 
| assembly1 = Odisha 
| majority1 = 
| term_start1 = 2009 
| term_end1 = 2014
| predecessor1 = [[Ajayanti Pradhan]]
| successor1 = [[Jacob Pradhan]]
}}
}}
'''Manoj Pradhan''' is an Indian politician from the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]], who was convicted of murder in January 2010.<ref name=dna/> He was elected from the [[G. Udayagiri]] [[Vidhan Sabha|assembly]] constituency from the state of [[Orissa, India|Orissa]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article623180.ece|title=BJP MLA convicted in Kandhamal riots case|work=Press Trust of India|publisher=[[The Hindu]]|date=9 September 2010|accessdate=12 September 2010}}</ref> He has been convicted in two cases of murder during the [[2008 Kandhamal violence|Kandhamal riots]] of 2008, in which 38 people were killed and more than 25,000 Christians were displaced.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiatalkies.com/2010/09/bjp-lawmaker-jail-murder-kandhamal-riots.html |title=BJP lawmaker gets jail for murder in Kandhamal riots | Accident / Crime / Disaster |publisher=Indiatalkies.com |accessdate=11 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713025212/http://www.indiatalkies.com/2010/09/bjp-lawmaker-jail-murder-kandhamal-riots.html |archivedate=13 July 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> During the swearing-in of the state assembly, Pradhan was in jail but was given 15 days bail so he could participate.

==Background==
Manoj Pradhan belongs to the [[Khonds|Kandha]] tribe, and hails from Laburigaon village in [[Kandhmal]] district.

With 80% of the population living below the poverty line, [[Kandhamal]] is one of the poorest districts of [[India]]. The population is largely tribal, with the [[scheduled tribes]] of [[Khonds|Kandha]], constituting 55%, along with a minority of Pana tribals. Under circumstances of severe governmental neglect, Christian missionaries were able to convert many of the Pana, who had their own forms of religion, over the last five decades.<ref>{{cite web |title = Why Kandhamal is a battleground over conversion |last=Karan |first=Jajati |publisher= CNN-IBN
|date= 30 August 2008
|url = http://www.ibnlive.com/news/why-kandhamal-is-a-battleground-over-conversion/72514-3.html
}}</ref> The Kandha are largely Hindu or believe in local animistic faiths.

Over the last four decades, the Christian conversion was opposed by the [[Vishwa Hindu Parishad]] led by [[Swami Laxmanananda]]. In August 2008, Laxmananda was [[Murder of Swami Lakshmanananda|murdered]] by a squad of armed [[Maoist]]s,<ref>[http://naxalwatch.blogspot.com/2009/04/top-maoist-commander-udaya-nabbed.html Top Maoist commander Udaya nabbed] [[Indian Express]]</ref> leading to widespread riots in which Manoj Pradhan had a leading role.

==Kandhamal riots==
{{Main|2008 Kandhamal violence}}
After Laxmananda's murder, Hindu mobs were convinced that Christians, who may have been behind several earlier attacks on him,<ref name=indexp>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/story/353136.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104110758/http://www.indianexpress.com/story/353136.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 January 2013 |title=Slain vhp man was conversion king |publisher=Indianexpress.com |date=26 August 2008 |accessdate=18 September 2008 |quote=Earlier, there had been two attacks on Lakshmanananda in 1971 and 1995. His recent troubles started last year when his car was stoned on December 24 by Dalit Christians in the native village of the Congress's Rajya Sabha MP, Radha Kanta Nayak, himself a Dalit Christian. }}</ref> were behind the murder. Eventually, however, a Maoist couple, Surendra Vekwara and Ruby, who were alleged to have killed the Swami, surrendered to the Orissa police.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zeenews.com/news549289.html |title=Killers of Laxmanananda Saraswati surrender |publisher=Zee News |date=22 July 2009}}</ref> The trigger had apparently been pulled by Maoist leader Udaya.{{citation needed|date=September 2010}}

However, BJP leaders like Manoj Pradhan and Ashok Sahu<ref>{{cite web|url=http://election.rediff.com/report/2009/apr/14/loksabhapoll-bjps-kandhamal-candidate-ashok-sahu-arrested.htm |title=BJP's Kandhamal candidate Ashok Sahu arrested: | Lok Sabha Election news 2009 | Rediff.com |publisher=Election.rediff.com |date= |accessdate=11 September 2010}}</ref> incited Hindu mobs to attack the Christian Pano tribal villages. The mob set fire to many Christian settlements, killing at least 38 people.<ref name=hindu>{{cite news
|title = BJP MLA convicted in Kandhamal riots case
|url= http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article623180.ece
|newspaper = [[The Hindu]] |date=9 September 2010
|quote = [The court] convicted Pradhan for the murder of Bikram Nayak from Budedipada of Tiangia village under Raikia police station limits on August 26, 2008. ... for setting ablaze houses of people belonging to the minority community and inciting communal violence. ... the riots in Kandhamal which claimed at least 38 lives in the aftermath of the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
}}
</ref> More than a thousand people are still living in Government refugee camps.

===Indictment and arrest===
During the investigations of the riot, Manoj Pradhan, though not named in the initial [[First Information Report]], was charged in 12 cases under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence),
302 (murder), 341 (wrongfully restraining someone), 342
(wrongful confinement) and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive
substance with intent to destroy houses etc.) of the [[Indian Penal Code]]/<ref name=dna>{{cite news
|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_breaking-news-bjp-mla-manoj-pradhan-sentenced-for-seven-years-in-kandhamal-riots_1402844
|title=Kandhamal riot: BJP MLA Manoj Pradhan sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment
|newspaper=Daily News & Analysis |date=29 June 2010 |accessdate=17 September 2010}}</ref> Pradhan went into hiding, and was listed as one of the "most wanted" in police files. After his arrest in October 2008, the investigating officer Arun Ray, stated that much of the killing during the riots had been "planned much before".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rightsidenews.com/200810202279/world/terrorism/soldier-protecting-christians-mutilated-killed-in-orissa-india.html |title=Soldier Protecting Christians Mutilated, Killed in Orissa, India |date=20 October 2008 |last=Bhatia |first=Shireen |accessdate=17 September 2010 |publisher=Right Side News |quote=Orissa police have arrested one of the 'most wanted' in the anti-Christian riots in the state's Kandhmal district. Manoj Pradhan, a key tribal leader, was reportedly arrested at a lodge in Berhampur on Wednesday (Oct. 15) night. Arun Ray, inspector general of police, told media, 'The crime was planned much before'. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716184949/http://www.rightsidenews.com/200810202279/world/terrorism/soldier-protecting-christians-mutilated-killed-in-orissa-india.html |archive-date=16 July 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

During the investigation of the riots, Manoj Pradhan emerged as one of the firebrand leaders of the mob; police dossiers describe him as "the field commander"<ref name=toi/> who led the rampaging mobs. On 15 October 2008, he was injured in a shootout<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bosnewslife.com/3861-3861-india-soldier-hacked-to-death-for-protecting |title=India Soldier Hacked To Death For Protecting Christians; New Violence in Orissa |date=20 October 2008 |accessdate=17 September 2010 |publisher=bosnewslife.com}}</ref> during a period when the armed constable Bakshis Singh of the elite [[Central Reserve Police Force]] was killed while trying to protect the minorities.
Pradhan had to undergo hospital treatment, and was staying at a lodge in [[Berhampur]] that night when he was arrested. The riots died down the same month.

==2009 elections==
For the [[Indian general election in Orissa, 2009]], the Bharatiya Janata Party inducted Pradhan, who had little political experience, as its candidate for the state legislature from the G Udaygiri constituency. The induction of a riot-accused as a representative of one of the main political parties raised considerable criticism, but was defended by party spokesman Nayan Mohanty, who claimed that charges against him had been "fabricated"<ref name=toi>{{cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-03-30/india/28044501_1_relief-camp-kandhmal-riots-manoj-pradhan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103093227/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-03-30/india/28044501_1_relief-camp-kandhmal-riots-manoj-pradhan |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 November 2012 |title=In jail, Kandhmal riots accused gets BJP ticket |last=Mishra |first=Sandeep |date=30 March 2009 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |accessdate=17 September 2010 }}</ref>

In the run-up to the elections,
[[Naveen Patnaik]], leader of the [[Biju Janata Dal]] broke his ties with the BJP, saying that "the alliance in the state had to be broken because it became impossible for him to stay with the saffron party after the Kandhanmal riots which "horrified the entire world".
<ref>{{cite news
|title=Kandhamal caused BJP-BJD break-up: Naveen Patnaik
|url = http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kandhamal-caused-bjpbjd-breakup-naveen-patnaik/89826-37.html
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090410084916/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kandhamal-caused-bjpbjd-breakup-naveen-patnaik/89826-37.html
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = 10 April 2009
|publisher=CNN-IBN
|date = 9 April 2009 |accessdate=17 September 2009}}</ref>

Although the BJP did very poorly in the elections, failing to win a single seat in parliament,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200905171311.htm |title=Parting ways with BJD proves costly for BJP |date=17 May 2009 |accessdate=17 September 2010 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> it won two of the three state assembly seats in the Kandhmal district. In the [[2009 Odisha Legislative Assembly election]], Pradhan won the [[G. Udayagiri (Odisha Vidhan Sabha constituency)|G Udaygiri seat]], defeating the sitting [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]] [[Ajayanti Pradhan]] of the [[Indian National Congress]] by 20,000 votes. Pradhan became a Member of the Legislative Assembly,<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://as.ori.nic.in/gis/html/orissa/mla.pdf |title=Simultaneous General Election 2009– ORISSA |accessdate=17 September 2010 |publisher=Orissa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721172912/http://as.ori.nic.in/gis/html/orissa/mla.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}
</ref> but could not attend the oath-taking ceremony since his bail application was rejected by a court in [[Phulbani]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://twocircles.net/2009jul06/orissa_legislator_freed_bail_takes_oath.html |title=Orissa legislator, freed on bail, takes oath |date=6 July 2009 |accessdate=17 September 2010 |publisher=twocircles.net}}</ref> Eventually the high court granted him bail and he was able to take the oath a few days late.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090706/jsp/nation/story_11199513.jsp |title=Riot-accused MLA gets bail |date=6 July 2009 |accessdate=17 September 2010 |publisher=telegraphindia.com}}</ref>

=== Summary of results of the 2009 Assembly Election ===
{{Election box begin |
|title= [[2009 Odisha Legislative Assembly election|2009 Vidhan Sabha Election]], G. Udayagiri<ref>http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/AE2009/stat_OR_April2009.pdf</ref>
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Bharatiya Janata Party
|candidate = Manoj Kumar Pradhan
|votes = 45,009
|percentage = ''43.92''
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Indian National Congress
|candidate = [[Ajayanti Pradhan]]
|votes = 21,074
|percentage = 20.56
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Biju Janata Dal
|candidate = Luko Sunamajhi
|votes = 15,818
|percentage = 15.44
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Independent (politician)
|candidate = [[Saluga Pradhan]]
|votes = 10,715
|percentage = 10.46
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Bahujan Samaj Party
|candidate = Shyamaghan Pradhan
|votes = 2,068
|percentage = 2.02
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate minor party|
|party = Independent
|candidate = Nameswar Sunamajhi
|votes = 2,027
|percentage = 1.98
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate minor party|
|party = Independent
|candidate = Pradeep Kumar Konhar
|votes = 1,840
|percentage = 1.80
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate minor party|
|party = Independent
|candidate = Menaka Pradhan
|votes = 1,559
|percentage = 1.52
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate minor party|
|party = Independent
|candidate = Sanjaya Pradhan
|votes = 1,428
|percentage = 1.39
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Samajwadi Party
|candidate = Philmon Pradhan
|votes = 938
|percentage = 0.92
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box majority|
|votes = 23,935
|percentage = ''23.36''{{efn|%of total valid votes}}
|change = ''-''
}}
{{Election box turnout|
|votes = 1,02,536
|percentage = 65.45
|change = ''-''
}}

{{Election box end}}

==Murder convictions==
On 29 June 2010, a fast-track court set up after the Kandhamal riots found Manoj Pradhan guilty of the murder of Parikhita Digal, a Christian from Budedi village who was killed by the mob on 27 August 2008.
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/2008-kandhamal-riots-bjp-mla-sentenced-to-7-years-in-jail-34605 |title=2008 Kandhamal riots: BJP MLA sentenced to 7 years in jail |publisher=Ndtv.com |date=29 June 2010 |accessdate=11 September 2010}}</ref> Pradhan was sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment. However, after his election he was granted bail
by the High court on 6 July.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_orissa-hc-grants-bail-to-kandhamal-riot-convict-bjp-mla_1406659 |title=Orissa HC grants bail to Kandhamal riot convict BJP MLA |newspaper=Daily News & Analysis |date=7 July 2010 |accessdate=11 September 2010}}</ref>

On 9 September 2010, another judge found Pradhan guilty in the murder of Bikram Nayak from Budedipada on 26 August 2008.<ref name=hindu/> He was sentenced to six years imprisonment in this case.

These are two of the 12 cases relating to the Kandhamal riots in which Manoj Pradhan has been charged; there are two other murder cases yet to be decided.

==Reference==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|in-la}}
{{IN Assembly succession box
| state= OD
| constituency= G. Udayagiri
| before = [[Ajayanti Pradhan]] (INC)
| years = [[2009 Odisha Legislative Assembly election|2009]] – [[2014 Odisha Legislative Assembly election|2014]]
| after = [[Jacob Pradhan]] (INC)
}}
{{s-end}}

{{BJP-politician-stub}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pradhan, Manoj}}
[[Category:Indian politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Politicians convicted of murder]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:People from Kandhamal district]]
[[Category:Hinduism-motivated violence in India]]

Manoj Pradhan - Revision history

>GreenC bot at 05:17, 26 April 2021