Bhubaneswar

The Odisha police's Criminal Investigation Department on Tuesday registered a case and launched its probe into the disappearance of an inquiry commission's report on the killing of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati and subsequent communal violence in Kandhamal in 2008 when BJD was in power.

The matter was being investigated by the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate of Police. But Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday ordered a CID probe into the case.

A case was lodged at the Capital Police Station here on June 10 over the missing reports, the investigation of which is being carried out by the police commissionerate.

An FIR was registered following a complaint by Sarat Chandra Marandi, a Joint Secretary in the Home Department.

The complainant mentioned that the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of these two reports create a reasonable suspicion that the documents may have been intentionally removed, retained, concealed, destroyed or otherwise unlawfully dealt with.

The chief minister handed over the case to the CID Crime Branch after three former IAS officers -- bureaucrat-turned-politician V K Pandian, U N Behera and Rajesh Verma -- skipped appearing before the investigating officer despite being summoned for questioning this month, officials said.

It is being alleged that two inquiry commission reports disappeared from the CMO in June 2024 during a transition period when the BJD was ousted from power, and the BJP formed a government in the state.

The three former IAS officers were in the CMO during the BJD government when the Justice AS Naidu Commission submitted the inquiry report in 2016.

The CID-CB registered a case under BNS sections 305 (theft), 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 238(c) (Causing disappearance of evidence), 241 (destruction of document to prevent its production as evidence), 61(2)(b) (riminal conspiracy) as per the order of the Director General of Police (CID), an official statement said.

CID Deputy Superintendent of Police Asutosh Mishra has been assigned to take over the investigation of the case, while Anirudha Routray, SP of CID-CB, will monitor the progress, the official said.

Besides the Naidu Commission report, the Revenue Divisional Commissioner inquiry report into the Sum Hospital fire incident of 2016 has gone missing from the CMO.

However, the CID-CB will probe only the missing Kandhamal Commission report case, sources said.

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The disappearance of the files has sparked a political debate in Odisha, particularly around the sensitive Naidu Commission report on Kandhamal violence, which was never made public.

The BJD alleged that the reports were not missing, but suppressed by the BJP government to divert public attention from burning issues like textbook errors, rising crime, fertiliser scarcity and others.