One person was killed and three others injured when a crude bomb being prepared at a rehabilitation centre in Orissa's Kandhamal district exploded on Sunday.

The Centre on Wednesday said last year's anti-Christian violence in the Kandhamal district of Orissa was a "blot on the face" of the state.

One more person has been arrested for allegedly being involved in the rape of a nun in communally sensitive Kandhamal district of Orissa, police said today.

A local RSS leader, who was arrested in connection with anti-Christian riots last year, was gunned down by suspected Maoists in Orissa's communally sensitive Kandhamal district early on Thursday.

The disquiet over the Kandhamal riots, mutually acceptable seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls and the poor show of the saffron ally in recent civic elections could have contributed in equal measure to the parting of ways between the BJD and BJP after 11 years.