Bhubaneswar: Even as controversy surrounds the alleged disappearance of two inquiry commission reports from the CMO during Naveen Patnaik’s tenure, BJP on Thursday claimed the home department had issued two letters to the former CM, seeking clarification on the whereabouts of the missing documents. Two documents —the Naidu judicial commission report on the 2008 assassination of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and a revenue divisional commissioner (RDC)-level inquiry report into the 2016 SUM hospital fire — are said to be missing.The development coincided with a special investigation team (SIT), comprising an ACP and two inspectors, beginning its probe by examining records at the home department. The SIT is expected to question current and former employees of the home department and CMO. Sources said the team may also record the statement of Naveen.The home department lodged an FIR on Wednesday stating it recently discovered that the CMO had failed to return the files when the BJP govt assumed office in June 2024.BJP general secretary Biranchi Tripathy said the department first wrote to Naveen on Oct 23, 2025, asking if the files were still in his possession. “When Naveen did not respond, a reminder was sent on Nov 4. Finally, on Nov 15, his private secretary replied, saying Naveen had asked him to search for the documents,” Tripathy told reporters.The BJP alleged that Saraswati, who had campaigned against religious conversion, was killed due to a conspiracy hatched by the BJD govt, and claimed the reports were deliberately made to vanish.Revenue minister Suresh Pujari said records prove the files were sent to Naveen but never returned. “After the BJP formed the govt in June 2024, officials attempted to examine the Naidu commission report, but it was nowhere to be found. During subsequent scrutiny of other records, the SUM Hospital fire inquiry report was also discovered missing. Despite months of searches and multiple letters to Naveen, the documents never surfaced,” Pujari said.Dismissing the allegations as politically motivated, former Rajya Sabha MP and BJD functionary Muzibulla Khan said, “Why was the govt silent for two years? This is a conspiracy to defame and harass Naveen babu. It is the BJP and the govt that have made the reports vanish to malign the BJD.”Police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said investigation is being pursued from all angles. “We will find out how the files went missing and those responsible,” Singh said. Police have sought detailed information from the home department on officer access and custodial responsibility for such sensitive records.“We will scrutinise protocols governing file movement, determine who last handled the documents, verify where they were supposed to be stored, and assess whether safety measures were followed. We will also examine whether the storage area had CCTV coverage, if footage is retrievable, and whether registers were properly maintained to record the movement of such sensitive files,” another police officer said.
