THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, JULY 22, 2026
The investigation into the alleged disappearance of two
crucial inquiry commission reports from the Odisha Chief Minister's Office
(CMO) has gathered momentum, with the Capital Police issuing a notice to former
bureaucrat and BJD leader V.K. Pandian, directing him to appear before
investigating officers on July 25.
Pandian, a 2000-batch IAS officer who served as the Private
Secretary to former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik before opting for voluntary
retirement, has been summoned as part of the ongoing probe into the missing
reports. After retirement, he joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ahead of the
2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections but stepped away from active politics
following the party's defeat in the Assembly polls.
The case stems from a complaint lodged by the Odisha Home
Department over the disappearance of two inquiry commission reports that had
been sent to the CMO. Home Department Joint Secretary Sarat Chandra Marandi
filed an FIR with the Capital Police, alleging that the reports could not be
traced after the change of government.
According to the FIR, the missing documents include the
Justice A.S. Naidu Commission Report on the 2008 killing of Swami Laxmananda
Saraswati in Kandhamal, submitted in 2016, and the Revenue Divisional
Commissioner's inquiry report into the 2016 fire tragedy at SUM Hospital and
Medical College in Bhubaneswar, which was submitted in 2018.
The FIR states that the Home Department had forwarded both
reports, along with several other important files, to the CMO. While the CMO
returned the remaining files to the Home Department on June 4, 2024, following
the BJD government's electoral defeat, the two inquiry commission reports were
allegedly not returned.
“The two reports are
presently untraceable at the CMO. The circumstances surrounding the
disappearance of these two reports create a reasonable suspicion that the
reports may have been intentionally removed, retained, concealed, destroyed or
otherwise unlawfully dealt with,” read the FIR.
The investigation has already seen the questioning of other
former senior officials linked to the previous administration. Police had
earlier summoned former IAS officer Rajesh Verma, who had served in the CMO,
and former IRTS officer Manoj Mishra, who was the Principal Secretary to the
Electronics and IT Department during the BJD government.
While Manoj Mishra recently appeared before the investigating
officers and recorded his statement, Rajesh Verma reportedly did not appear
despite being summoned.
With Pandian now formally called for questioning, the probe
has entered a politically significant phase as investigators seek to determine
how the sensitive inquiry reports went missing from the Chief Minister's Office
and whether any criminal liability arises from their disappearance.
