The gunning down of Saraswati and his disciples had triggered communal violence leaving 37 dead and a large number of houses and places of worship damaged in Kandhamal. The four others killed in the attack were Mata Bhaktimayee, Krutananda Baba, Kishore Baba and Puranjana Guntha.

In order to prevent any untoward incident during court verdict, elaborate security arrangements had been made across the district amid deployment of around 1200 security personnel and thorough checking at sensitive and vulnerable locations.