Anand Margis seeks judicial probe into killing of their monks in 1982

Kolkata, May 1 (ANI): Around 500 people belonging to Anand Marg, an occult sect, participated in a silent procession here on Thursday.

They were demanding a judicial inquiry into the killing of 17 monks and a nun allegedly by the Communist Party of India (Marxists) goons in 1982.

The procession was organised by the Ananda Marga Pracharaka Sangha (AMPS), to pay homage to the 17 monks and a nun who were killed on April 30, 1982 in Kolkata.

"We want judicial enquiry into this particular incident. This particular incident still remains in secrecy. Nobody knows what happened, who has killed. Nobody has been given punishment. We want that the culprit should be given punishment," said Acharya Kalyenvaranada Avadhuta, public relation secretary, AMPS.

As a protest against what they term to be the CPI-M's tyranny that claimed the lives of the 17 monks and a nun, the Anand Margis have been holding this silent rally every year on April 30.

Claiming to be a spiritual movement, Anand Marg founded by P R Sarkar in 1960, is viewed as a cult since certain rituals practised by its followers are unusual and these include the use of skulls and allied occult traditions.

Anand Marg had been banned by the Supreme Court after there was a hue and cry by the public over its followers practising rituals with human bones, daggers and even snakes in the open.

This organisation was accused of killing of Central Railway Minister L N Mishra at Samastipur in Bihar in 1975. In the same year, a couple of Anand Margis were also arrested for hurling a bomb at the Chief Justice of India, A N Ray at a traffic intersection, near the Supreme Court. (ANI)