Bhubaneswar: Odisha police Wednesday served notice to ex-bureaucrat turned politician VK Pandian to appear before the ACP on July 25 in connection with its probe into the alleged disappearance of two inquiry commission reports from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) during the previous BJD government’s tenure, officials said.
Pandian was the private secretary to then chief minister Naveen Patnaik in 2024 when the two reports of separate inquiry commissions allegedly disappeared from the CMO during the transition of government after the BJP won the elections.
The notice to Pandian was issued by the investigating officer of the Capital Police Station here. He has been asked to appear before the ACP, Zone I, Bhubaneswar UPD (urban police department), July 25 at 11 am for examination and to cooperate with the investigation.
Pandian has also been asked to bring any documents, records, electronic devices or other materials relevant to the case that may be in his possession or under his control.
“Whereas, I am investigating Capital PS Case No. 460 dated 10.06.2026 U/s-305/316 (2) /238/241/61 (2) (b) BNS and from the information collected during the course of investigation, it appears that you may be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the said case,” IO Bipin Behari Hota said in the notice for appearance to Pandian. The letter was sent to Pandian at his Palaspalli residence address.
Earlier on July 10, two senior retired IAS officers, Rajesh Verma, who served as Principal Secretary to Patnaik from 2017 to 2019 and Manoj Mishra, former IT Secretary from 2019 to 2022 and also officer on special duty to the former chief minister, were asked to appear before police and cooperate in the investigation. Mishra appeared before the police on July 18 and recorded his statement.
Verma, who is currently the chairperson of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in New Delhi, however, missed the deadline on Wednesday.
As Verma could not make it on an appropriate date, he may be issued another letter, a senior police officer said, adding that he should cooperate in the investigation. “The police may take legal action if the former IAS officer does not comply with the second notice,” he said.
On June 10, Sarat Chandra Marandi, a Joint Secretary in the Home Department, had filed an FIR at the Capital Police Station here alleging that two important documents, the Justice AS Naidu Commission Report on VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati murder case and subsequent communal riot in Kandhamal in 2008, and the RDC Inquiry report into the Sum Hospital fire incident of 2016, have gone missing from the CMO.
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.
As the reports were very important, their disappearance from official custody is a matter of serious public concern requiring thorough investigation, the complainant said.
