Saraswati was on his way to visit Brahmanigoan village when a bus belonging to Sugriba Singh, a Catholic Pano leader and Biju Janata Dal Member of Parliament (Lower House) obstructed the road.

In a statement, Saraswati had identified Radha Kanta Nayak, an Indian National Congress Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, as being involved in the attack.

The attackers included activists of the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and other Sangh Parivar organisations, and workers of the BJP that was a partner in the government headed by Naveen Patnaik.

The Kui Samaj, which unites members of the native Kondh tribe (both Hindus and Protestant Khonds) in Kandhamal, was found to be leading the attacks on Catholic Panos.

[11][12] The police arrested Pradesh Kumar Das, an employee of the Indian branch of World Vision, a Christian charity organisation, from Khadagpur while escaping from the district at Buguda.

[13] On 28 August, a letter of denial was received by some media outlets, the VHP office in the Gajapati District of Orissa and the Bajrang Dal from a Maoist group.

[16] A few claims that Maoist sympathizers of south Orissa had initially denied the role of CPI-Maoist were made in the murder of VHP leaders that sparked off communal violence in Kandhamnal district.

[20] On Wednesday 22 July 2009, a young Maoist couple, Surendra and Ruppi Pidikka alias Jaya Venkwara claimed to have been involved in the Saraswati's killing and surrendered to the Orissa police.

[22] In spite of claims that the case of Saraswatiji's murder has been solved, it is widely believed to be a cover up, based on doubts expressed by several senior investigators and experts on left-wing extremism.

[23] Subash Chouhan, national co-convener of the Bajrang Dal, refused to accept that the Maoists were responsible, saying "Why all of a sudden so many days after the incident has [Panda] come and spoken to the television channels?".