Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Tuesday formally took over the investigation into the alleged disappearance of the Justice A.S. Naidu Commission report on the 2008 killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four others from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) during the previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government.
Acting on the direction of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, the CID-Crime Branch re-registered the case as CID CB P.S. Case No. 09 of 2026, dated July 28, under Sections 305, 316(2), 238(c), 241 and 61(2)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
In a statement, the Crime Branch said the case had been taken over from Capital Police Station in the larger public interest to ensure an impartial and comprehensive investigation into Capital P.S. Case No. 460 of 2026.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Asutosh Mishra has been entrusted with the investigation, while Crime Branch Superintendent of Police Anirudha Routray will supervise and monitor the progress of the probe.
The development comes a day after the Chief Minister directed the Crime Branch to assume charge of the investigation into the missing commission report.
The case was originally registered by Capital Police on June 10 on the basis of a written complaint filed by a senior Home Department official regarding the disappearance of the Justice A.S. Naidu Commission report on the Kandhamal killings and the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) inquiry report into the 2016 SUM Hospital fire incident.
As part of the earlier investigation, the Commissionerate Police had summoned four former bureaucrats, including former IAS officer V.K. Pandian, who served as a close aide to former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, to record their statements on separate dates.
So far, only former Information Technology Secretary Manoj Kumar Mishra has appeared before the investigating officer and recorded his statement. The remaining officials are yet to join the investigation.
