Bhubaneswar: The police have issued summons to two former bureaucrats in connection with the alleged disappearance of the reports of two inquiry commissions from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in Odisha.

The cops summoned former bureaucrats Rajesh Verma and Manoj Mishra to depose before them as part of their investigation into the case.

Verma, a former IAS officer, had earlier served in the CMO while Mishra, a former IRTS officer, was the Principal Secretary to the Electronics and IT Department during the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) govt in the state. 

The Home Department of the state government had lodged a police complaint in connection with the alleged disappearance of the reports of two inquiry commissions from the CMO.

Home Department Joint Secretary Sarat Chandra Marandi had lodged an FIR in this regard with the Capital police in the city here.

As per the FIR, the inquiry reports in connection with the killing of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district and a fire incident at Sum Hospital and Medical College in the capital city went missing from the CMO.

Justice AS Naidu Commission had submitted its report on the killing of Laxamananda 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 party in the Assembly elections. However, the CMO did not return the two inquiry commission reports, claimed the FIR.

“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,” read the FIR.

The Home Department had urged the police to register a case in this regard and launch a probe to ascertain the circumstances leading the disappearance of the reports. The cops had been urged to identify the persons responsible for the disappearance of the reports and initiate action against them.