Bhubaneswar: A day after serving notice to former IAS officer and ex‑BJD politician V K Pandian over the alleged theft of two sensitive files from the chief minister’s office (CMO) during the 2024 regime change, commissionerate police on Thursday asked another ex-official to depose for questioning.“We have served a notice to retired IAS officer U N Behera, who served as the additional chief secretary to former chief minister Naveen Patnaik between Nov 2015 and Jan 2017. He has been asked to appear before the investigating officer at Capital police station at 11 am on July 26,” a senior officer said.Meanwhile, Naveen’s former principal secretary Rajesh Verma, also a retired IAS officer, has been served with a fresh notice to depose on July 30 after failing to turn up on July 22. Verma was in the CMO from 2017 to 2019.Police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh warned of “stern action” against those ignoring notices. “Our investigation is focused on tracing the missing files and fixing responsibility for their disappearance. Those served with notices must cooperate. Otherwise, they may face stern legal consequences,” Singh told reporters.So far, notices have been served on four former CMO officials — ex‑OSD to Naveen and former IT secretary Manoj Mishra, besides Verma, Pandian and Behera. Only Mishra has deposed on July 18.The notice to Pandian, who has been asked to appear on Saturday, has raised the political temperature despite his quitting the BJD after its 2024 electoral debacle. “The notice to Pandian is a deliberate arm‑twisting tactic by the BJP to target Naveen after he sought the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak,” alleged former BJD MLA Sambit Routray.The BJP dismissed the charge. “There is no politics behind the notice to Pandian. His questioning is expected to shed light on the theft of the two sensitive files. Whoever is involved will not be spared,” BJP MLA Ashok Mohanty said.The case, registered at Capital police station on June 10 against “unknown suspects”, pertains to two inquiry reports: the Naidu Commission report on the 2008 assassination of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, and RDC report on the 2016 SUM hospital fire.The home department said the Naidu report was forwarded to the chief secretary’s office on Sept 16, 2016, and sent to the CMO three days later. The RDC report was dispatched to the chief secretary’s office on May 23, 2018, and to the CMO the next day.
