NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A Maoist group has claimed responsibility for the killing of a Hindu leader, whose death sparked a wave of Hindu-Christian riots in southern India. Indian nuns protest against the recent violence which has seen Christians attacked. Sabyasachi Panda, the head of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, told reporters of two private television stations that his group was behind the Hindu leader's death, the country's national news agency said Sunday. The leader, Laxmananda Saraswati, preached the tenets of Hinduism to the tribal people of the state. And Panda said Maoists had earlier warned him to desist from "such works" or face consequences, PTI said.
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Maoist group claims responsibility for killing of Hindu leader
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His death sparked a wave of Hindu-Christian riots in southern India
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India's PM has called the Maoists the country's biggest security threat
The Indian government has consistently claimed the shooting death may have been the work of @placeholder rebels.
Afterward, police arrested five @placeholder as suspects in the case.