KalingaTimes Correspondent
Bhubaneswar, Aug 25: A Christian girl was burnt alive and a pastor was injured when unidentified men attacked an orphanage in Bargarh district of Odisha on Monday as Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists observed a bandh in protest against the killing of their leader Swami Lakshmanananda.

As regards reports that the woman killed in the attack was a nun, the police claimed that the victim was a student and she had been identified as Rajani. She was 20-years-old.

Police sources also said the place that was attacked was not an orphanage but a training centre run by a missionary organisation. The victim was receiving computer training, they said.

Meanwhile, scores of churches and prayer houses were attacked by VHP workers during the day-long bandh. Police failed to reach most of those places as a majority of the prayer houses that were damaged were located in areas inaccessible by road.

The supporters of the Swami also attacked two prayer houses in Bhubaneswar and pelted stones at a few institutions run by Christians. The VHP leader Swami Lakshmanananda VHP leader Swami Lakshmanananda police have registered case and investigating into the matter.

The police had been put on high alert in all parts of the state as it was being apprehended that violence would continue in many interior districts having sizeable Christian population.

The situation continued to remain volatile in Kandhamal district where the Swami and four other were killed on Saturday. One person was killed in the district when protestors set a hamlet on fire.

The killing of the Sami had put the Naveen Patnaik Government on the spot as Bharatiya Janata Party was a part of the government.

The body of the Swami was cremated at Chakapada in Kandhamal district late on Monday afternoon. VHP leader Pravinbhai Togadia and several BJP leaders and Ministers of the state, including Jual Oram, Surama Padhi, Golak Bihari Nayak, attended the cremation.