Bhubaneswar: Odisha police Thursday launched an investigation into the alleged disappearance of two inquiry commission reports involving the death of at least 65 people in separate incidents from the CMO during the previous BJD government amid an intense political row.
The police began the investigation based on the FIR lodged by the state government, alleging that the probe panel reports on Swami Laxamanananda Saraswati’s killing and subsequent communal riot in Kandhamal district in 2008, and another report on a hospital fire in Bhubaneswar, were missing from the CMO.
Commissioner of Police S Dev Datta Singh said, “We have launched an investigation based on the FIR lodged by the joint secretary of the home department. A team is formed which is looking into different angles of the case. The probe is being done in a professional manner.”
While 43 people were killed in Kandhamal in 2008, at least 22 people were burnt to death in a devastating fire at SUM Hospital here in 2016. The riot in Kandhamal took place immediately after the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati at his Jaleshpeta ashram on Janmastami night on August 23, 2008.
Miscreants gunned down Saraswati and four of his associates, including a woman sanyasi, leading to large-scale communal violence in Kandhamal.
The state government had appointed a judicial commission which submitted its report to the government in 2016.
The home department said the judicial commission report was forwarded to the chief secretary’s office on September 16, 2016, and subsequently sent to the CMO three days later.
Similarly, the Revenue Divisional Commission inquiry report on the hospital fire was dispatched to the chief secretary’s office on May 23, 2018, and later to the CMO the next day.
However, both reports went missing, the home department said.
“Several other reports and files, sent to the CMO, were returned to the home department on June 4, 2024, the day assembly election results indicated a change of government. However, the two inquiry commission reports were not sent back to the home department,” the FIR mentioned.
Addressing a press conference here, Odisha BJP spokesperson Biranchi Narayan Tripathy alleged that there should be no doubt over a conspiracy behind the disappearance of two inquiry commission reports.
“The reports were stolen from the CMO during the BJD tenure in order to shield some persons involved in both the cases,” he said.
Tripathy further said that after assuming office, the BJP government inquired about the Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati’s killing and the Kandhamal riot commission report. But it was not available at the CMO.
“The government has contacted Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik twice regarding the missing file. But, there was no satisfactory answer,” the BJP leader asserted.
“The security provided to Saraswati was withdrawn on the day of his murder,” the BJP leader claimed, adding that the miscreants killed five people including Saraswati at his ashram leading to a riot. Saraswati was killed because he was opposing religious conversion,” he said.
While there was no official communication from BJD, party leader and former MP Munna Khan said there was no point in raising the matter after two years.
“We do not believe that the file was missing. The file is not lost during BJD tenure. The government might have suppressed it,” he said.
Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam blamed both the BJD and the BJP.
“It is a matter of shame that the files were missing from the CMO. The government has failed to protect the people’s property. What has the government done for two years? Now, the BJP raises the commission reports issue to draw public attention from public unrest on rising crimes,” Kadam said.
Meanwhile, retired Orissa High Court judge Justice A S Naidu, who conducted the judicial inquiry into the Kandhamal riot and the killing of Saraswati, expressed concern over the disappearance of the report.
“The full-fledged report, containing two thick volumes of about 2000 pages, contained sensitive findings. It was processed by the Home Secretary and handed over directly to the Chief Minister’s Office. I suspect it has been misplaced, not stolen,” he said.