Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police on Thursday issued fresh summons to retired IAS officer Rajesh Verma, who missed the July 22 deadline to appear at Capital police station in connection with the investigation into the missing files from the Odisha Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
“… 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 Zone-I ACP by 30.07.2026 for examination and to extend your full cooperation in the investigation,” the notice read.
Verma, who is currently serving as chairperson of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in New Delhi, has also been asked to bring documents, records, electronic devices or other materials relevant to the investigation that may be in his possession or control. “Kindly note that this notice is issued for the purpose of investigation, and you are expected to comply with the same in accordance with law,” it added.
He had served as principal secretary to the CMO from 2017 to 2019.
Upendra Nath Behera, a 1983-batch IAS officer, has also been directed to appear before the ACP), Zone-I, at 11 am on July 26 for questioning in connection with the case, with a similar notice served to him. He was Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister and subsequently served as the Chairman of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).
This comes a day after a similar notice was issued to VK Pandian, former IAS officer and trusted aide of BJD president and former CM Naveen Patnaik, directing him to appear for questioning in connection with the alleged disappearance of two crucial inquiry reports. He has been asked to appear at the office of the Zone-I ACP on July 25 (Saturday) at 11 am.
Former IT secretary Manoj Mishra, who served as Odisha’s IT secretary from 2019 to 2022 and later as an officer on special duty to the former CM, appeared before the police on July 18 after requesting an earlier date due to his unavailability on July 22 on which Verma was also asked to appear at the Capital police station.
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.
The case has been registered under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including those related to theft, criminal breach of trust, causing disappearance of evidence, destruction of documents, and criminal conspiracy.
