BHUBANESWAR: Day after Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan stated that reports of two crucial Inquiry Commissions have gone missing from the state secretariat since the BJD rule, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday announced that the government is ready to launch an investigation and find out the truth.
Replying to questions after launching the second phase of the Godabarish Mishra Adarsha Prathamika Vidyalayas at Khurda, the chief minister said, “There have been allegations in this regard. The government will launch an investigation to find out the truth, if required,” he said.
A major political controversy has erupted after Harichandan said reports of two Inquiry Commissions had gone missing during the BJD government’s regime in the state. Though the minister did not name the reports, sources said, one of them could be on the assassination of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
Official sources said the disappearance of the reports came to fore when the BJP government started the process of placing them in the Assembly. The government is not able to place the reports in the Assembly as they are nowhere to be found, the sources said.
Reacting to Harichandan’s allegations, former Law minister and senior BJD leader Arun Sahoo termed it a matter of serious concern, which raises questions on the state’s administrative system and security mechanism.
Addressing a media-conference here, Sahoo asked if the government was aware of the missing reports for the past several months, why had it not taken any step to find out the truth. The state government should disclose the names of the Commission reports which have gone missing, he said.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA from Khurda Prashant Jagdev alleged that the reports went missing during Sahoo’s tenure as the Law minister. Sahoo was the Law minister from 2014 to 2017.