Odisha Police summons Pandian, e CM Patnaik’s aide, over two missing CMO files
Odisha Police on Wednesday summoned V. Karthikeya Pandian, a close aide of former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, to appear before a probe team investigating the
Odisha Police on Wednesday summoned V. Karthikeya Pandian, a close aide of former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, to appear before a probe team investigating the disappearance of two files from the CM’s Office (CMO) during the previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) regime. The Capital police station asked Mr. Pandian to appear before the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police Zone-1, Bhubaneswar, for questioning. The former IAS officer has been asked to bring documents, electronic devices or other materials relevant to the investigation in his possession on July 25.
Senior IAS officer Rajesh Verma, then Principal Secretary to the CM, and Manoj Mishra, former IT Secretary, were asked to provide information regarding the disappearance of the files. While Mr. Mishra appeared before the probe team on Tuesday, Mr. Verma, who was summoned on Wednesday, did not turn up. Pandian, who resigned from the IAS in 2023, is regarded as the longest-serving private secretary to any Chief Minister in Odisha. After the 2024 Assembly election, in which the BJD was routed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the former IAS officer quit politics.
He is scarcely seen in public now. His wife, Sujata Rout Karthikeyan, also a former IAS officer, recently joined the BJD. CM briefed Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police (Bhubaneswar-Cuttack) Suresh Dev Datta Singh briefed CM Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday about progress in the investigation into the missing files, an officer said. The case pertains to the disappearance of two judicial commission of inquiry reports — A.S. Naidu Commission report on the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and others in Jaleshpeta Ashram of Kandhamal district in 2008, and the Revenue Divisional Commission (RDC)-level inquiry report over a fire incident at SUM Hospital and Medical College in Bhubaneswar.
According to the Home Department, the Naidu Commission report was sent to the CMO on October 19, 2016 while the RDC inquiry report was sent on May 24, 2018. The killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and several others in 2008 had triggered large-scale communal riots between Hindus and Christians in Kandhamal district. It remains one of the worst incidents of anti-Christian violence recorded in the State.
The BriefWire