Bhubaneswar: A day after Odisha Police summoned former bureaucrat V Karthikeya Pandian in connection with the high-profile case of missing files from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday lashed out at the state government, claiming it was aimed to divert people’s attention from its alleged failures.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of having failed in all spheres, former MLA Prashant Muduli said notice was issued as an afterthought after to divert the attention of the people from burning issues.
While law and order machinery in the state has virtually collapsed amid an alarming rise in heinous crimes, the government has also failed to mitigate the plight of women and weaker sections, claimed Muduli while speaking to media.
Alleging that the condition of women in the state has become precarious, he claimed that the youths are also angry over alleged irregularities in conduct of important examinations and growing unemployment.
Therefore, in a desperate attempt to suppress its failures and divert the attention of people from real issues, the state government decided to issue notice to former bureaucrats though the files allegedly went missing long ago, Muduli alleged.
Reacting sharply to the BJD leader’s allegations, BJP MLA Ashok Mohanty said that the police are conducting a detailed investigation in an effort to unravel the truth. Notices have been issued to all those who are who are suspected to be involved in the file missing case, he said.
Stating that the government is doing its job, the BJP legislator claimed that all aspects are being examined thoroughly.
Notably, the Capital Police in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday issued summons to Pandian in connection with the high-profile case of missing files.
Pandian has been directed to appear before the investigating officer at 1 pm on July 25 as part of the ongoing investigation of the case registered in Capital police station on June 10. “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. Therefore, you are hereby required to appear before the undersigned at the Office of ACP Zone 1, Bhubaneswar UPD on 25.07.2026 at 1 AM for examination and to extend your full cooperation in the investigation,” it read.
Police also asked him to bring documents, records, electronic devices or other materials relevant to the investigation that may be in his possession or control.
Pandian, a 2000-batch IAS officer who served as Private Secretary to former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, took voluntary retirement before joining the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ahead of the 2024 elections. He later exited politics following the party’s defeat in the 2024 elections.
Police had earlier summoned two other former bureaucrats — retired IAS officer Rajesh Verma, who served as Principal Secretary in the CMO from 2017 to 2019, and former IT secretary Manoj Mishra. Mishra appeared before investigators on July 18 and cooperated with the probe. “Since an FIR has been filed alleging that two files are missing, police are asking officials concerned about the procedures followed for maintaining them. I have shared all the information they sought. As the matter is under investigation, it would not be appropriate to elaborate further,” Mishra told reporters after his questioning.
However, Verma, who is currently serving as chairperson of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in New Delhi, did not appear on the scheduled date of July 22.
The controversy has sparked political debate in Odisha, particularly around the sensitive Naidu Commission report on the Kandhamal violence, which was submitted in 2016 but never made public, even as police continue to investigate the circumstances under which the files went missing from the CMO during the transition period after the 2024 elections.
According to the FIR, both reports, along with other files, had been forwarded to the CMO by the Home Department. While other files were returned on June 4, 2024, following the change in government, the two inquiry reports – – the Justice A S Naidu Commission report on the 2008 assassination of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati (which reached the CMO in September 2016) and the Revenue Divisional Commissioner’s inquiry into the 2016 fire tragedy at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar (forwarded to the CMO in May 2018) – were not.
“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,” the FIR stated.