Bhubaneswar, July 23: In a significant development regarding the missing investigation reports from the Odisha Chief Minister‘s Office, the Commissionerate Police has issued a notice to retired IAS officer Upendra Nath Behera. This follows a similar notice issued to VK Pandian, a close aide of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, just a day earlier.
Behera has been instructed to appear before the investigating officer concerning two crucial reports that allegedly went missing during the previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government.
The notice pertains to case number 460/26 registered at the Capital Police Station in Bhubaneswar. This case was initiated based on a complaint from a senior official in the state’s Home Department, highlighting the disappearance of files from the Chief Minister’s Office.
The missing reports include the findings of the Justice A.S. Nayak Commission, which investigated the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four others in the Kandhamal district in 2008, and the revenue divisional commissioner’s report on a fire incident at IMS and SUM Hospital and Medical College in Bhubaneswar in 2016.
According to the notice issued by the investigating officer, there is reason to believe that Behera may possess knowledge of the facts and circumstances related to this case. He is required to appear at the ACP Zone-1 office in Bhubaneswar on July 26 at 11 AM to assist with the investigation.
The notice also requests that he bring any documents, records, electronic devices, or other materials related to the investigation that may be useful. Behera has been asked to comply with the notice as per the law.
Additionally, another retired IAS officer, Rajesh Verma, has also received a new notice. He is required to present himself at the ACP Zone-1 office in Bhubaneswar by July 30. Verma was previously asked to appear on July 22 but failed to do so.
Earlier, the Commissionerate Police had issued notices to two former senior officials, Rajesh Verma and Manoj Kumar Mishra, the former IT secretary of Odisha. Mishra appeared before the investigating officer on July 18 and provided his statement.
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