CID officials, who have been camping in Kandhamal for more than a month, said they have identified the group that murdered Saraswati. “The group that killed the Swami comprised around 35 people, although the conspiracy was hatched much before by around 100 people in the district. We have identified the Maoists as well as others who are overground. We will arrest some of them very soon,” said the officer.

Meanwhile, the state president of the Hindu Jagaran Samukhya, Ashok Sahu, on Monday lambasted the state Government’s “inaction” in the Saraswati murder. He reiterated his earlier allegations that local church authorities had engineered the attack by hiring Christian Maoists. Sahu alleged that on May 25 this year, 17 people met in a church under G Udaygiri police station where they resolved to kill Saraswati.