Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday handed over the investigation into the high-profile case of alleged file disappearance of inquiry commission report from Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) during Biju Janata Dal rule to Crime Branch.

In a statement, Mr. Majhi said the missing file case of the A.S. Naidu Commission report over the Swami Laxmanananda murder incident over was referred to Crime Branch.

Odisha police were investigating the disappearance of two files from CMO – the murder of Swami Laxmanananda, a Sangh Parivar leader in Kandhamal and the Revenue Divisional Commission (RDC)-level inquiry report over the fire incident at SUM Hospital and Medical College in Bhubaneswar. It was not clear if the Crime Branch would probe the missing of the fire incident inquiry report.

As the investigation gained pace, the State police had summoned V. Karthikeya Pandian, a close aide of former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Rajesh Verma, then Principal Secretary to the CM, and Manoj Mishra, IT Secretary.

Since Mr. Pandian was out of country, he could not appear before the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police Zone-1, Bhubaneswar, for questioning. Mr. Verma also failed to turn up for questioning. Mr Mishra, however, presented his side before investigating team.

The killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and several others in 2008 triggered large-scale communal violence between Hindus and Christians in Kandhamal district, marking one of the worst incidents of anti-Christian violence in the State.

In the aftermath, the Biju Janata Dal severed its ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party, accusing it of supporting the violence. Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was regarded as a prominent figure within the Sangh Parivar in Odisha. A senior BJP leader stated that he had worked extensively in Kandhamal district to counter alleged religious conversions of vulnerable individuals from Hinduism to Christianity.

Published - July 28, 2026 07:27 am IST