Bhubaneswar: Former IT secretary Manoj Mishra appeared before police on Saturday in connection with the investigation into the alleged disappearance of key inquiry reports related to the 2008 assassination of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and the 2016 SUM Hospital fire.After his appearance, Mishra told reporters that he was fully cooperating with the investigation. “Since an FIR has been filed alleging that two files are missing, police are asking officials concerned about the procedures followed for maintaining them. I have shared all the information they sought. As the matter is under investigation, it would not be appropriate to elaborate further,” said Mishra, who also served as an officer on special duty to former chief minister Naveen Patnaik in 2023.A police officer said notices were issued to Mishra and Rajesh Verma, former principal secretary to Naveen, asking them to appear before investigators on July 22. However, Mishra requested an earlier date, citing his unavailability on July 22, and appeared on Saturday.Police had on Wednesday served notices on both the former bureaucrats as part of the probe into the missing reports.A case has been registered under Sections 305 (theft), 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 238(c) (causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information to screen an offender), 241 (destruction of documents or electronic records to prevent their production as evidence) and 61(2)(b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).The missing-files controversy erupted after the Odisha govt alleged that two sensitive inquiry reports vanished from the CMO during the change of guard in June 2024. An FIR was lodged on June 10, prompting police to launch a criminal probe into the suspected theft, concealment or destruction of official records.According to the home department, the Justice A S Naidu Commission report on the 2008 killing of Saraswati reached the chief secretary’s office on Sept 16, 2016, and was forwarded to the CMO three days later. The RDC inquiry report on the 2016 hospital fire followed a similar trail, moving from the chief secretary’s office to the CMO in May 2018.An Indian Railway Traffic Service officer, Mishra served as Odisha’s IT secretary from 2019 to 2022 and continued in the post on contract after taking voluntary retirement.
