Bhubaneswar: Odisha Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan attacked the previous BJD government over the alleged disappearance of the judicial commission report on the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Alleging that the report was deliberately concealed to suppress its findings, he accused the BJD of having a role in its disappearance from the CMO, and claimed that the incident creates suspicion about a conspiracy behind the murder of Saraswati.
Asserting that the BJP government has taken the issue seriously and directed the Crime Branch to conduct a probe, the Minister expressed the hope that the Crime Branch will trace the judicial panel report and the culprits will be punished.
Harichandan said the investigation would identify those who allegedly suppressed the report and the motive behind it. Appropriate action would be taken against anyone found to have been involved, he said.
It may be noted that the Capital police in Bhubaneswar had registered a case with regard to the disappearance of the reports of two inquiry commissions from the CMO and launched a probe following a complaint lodged by the Home Department.
According to the FIR, the inquiry reports in connection with the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district in 2008 and a fire incident in Bhubaneswar went missing from the CMO.
Justice AS Naidu Commission had submitted its report on the killing of Laxmanananda Saraswati in 2016 while the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) had submitted the inquiry report on the fire incident in 2018.
The two inquiry reports along with some other important files had been forwarded to the CMO by the Home Department, said the FIR.
The CMO had returned other files to the Home Department on June 4, 2024 after the defeat of the ruling BJD in the Assembly elections. However, the CMO did not return the two inquiry commission reports, claimed the FIR.
As part of its probe, the Capital police had summoned several former bureaucrats including VK Pandian, who had served as the Private Secretary to then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, for questioning.