Tenure Of Ratna Bhandar Missing Keys Probe Panel Extended To Another 3 Months

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Friday extended the tenure of Justice Raghubir Das Commission of Inquiry, probing the missing Ratna Bhandar keys of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, by another three months.

A notification to this effect was issued by the Home department. The first term of the Commission ended on Friday.

Notably, secretary to the Commission Kasinath Panigrahi, in a recent letter to the Home department, had sought a further extension of the term of the Commission by another three months since its inquiry into the missing Ratna Bhandar keys is yet to be completed.

Following the statewide resentment over the missing Ratna Bhandar keys, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on June 4 had ordered a judicial probe. Two days after the order, the Home department, in a notification on June 6, had announced the appointment of Justice Raghubir Das, a former judge of the Orissa High Court, as chairman of the commission of inquiry to probe the missing keys.

The Commission was required to submit its report to the state government within three months.

The Home department on June 8 had issued the terms of reference (ToR) of the investigation.

The Commission, meanwhile, has expedited the verification of the affidavits it has received from the State Law secretary, chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), Niti Prasasak of Jagannath Temple, District Treasury Officer, Puri, former Puri collector Arvind Agrawal, present collector Jyoti Prakash Das, social activist Rajkumar Mohanty and convener of Jagannath Sena Priyadarshan Patnaik.

Apart from this, it has also received some important documents related to the missing Ratna Bhandar keys.