Bhubaneswar, Sep 14 - The former Orissa police chief Monday deposed before a commission that though the state police was aware that Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, who was killed last year, was under threat from some quarter, they did not know the threat was from Maoist rebels.

Deposing before the Justice S.C. Mohapatra Commission probing Saraswati's death and subsequent violence in Kandhamal district, former DG Gopal Nanda said police had information that Saraswati was under threat from some quarter, but were not sure if it was a Maoist threat.

'We had information that Saraswati was under threat from some quarter. But we did not have information that he was on the target of Maoists, so the security provided wasn't of the scale to counter such an attack,' said Nanda.

Nanda, however, claimed that there was no negligence on the part of the state police.

Nanda also said that the state police tried its best to provide protection to the people of minority communities.