‘Missing’ reports from CMO: Will investigate if complaints are received, says CM

Bhubaneswar: CM Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday said the govt will investigate the alleged disappearance of two inquiry commission reports from the chief minister’s office (CMO) during Naveen Patnaik’s tenure, if specific complaints are received.Majhi’s remarks followed law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan’s claim in a television interview on Saturday that the key reports went missing from the CMO when Naveen was in office.“If we receive any complaint regarding the missing files, we will investigate it,” Majhi told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Khurda.Earlier in the TV interview, Harichandan said the govt would inquire into the matter and fix accountability. “Two highly crucial inquiry commission reports went missing during Naveen Patnaik’s regime from his office. Now, we will decide how to proceed. The chief minister will take a call. Appropriate action will be taken at the right time, and all those involved will be held accountable,” he told the channel. The minister, however, did not specify which commissions or incidents the reports pertained to.Khurda's BJP MLA Prasanta Kumar Jagadev alleged the reports disappeared when Arun Kumar Sahoo was the law minister. “The perpetrators will be exposed. They will face action,” Jagadev said.The BJD as well as former minister Sahoo dismissed the charges, demanding clarity from the govt. “We condemn the law minister’s statement. The govt must explain details about the reports and whether they were lost or deliberately made to vanish to protect someone,” Sahoo said.The BJD alleged that if any file is missing, it must have happened during the current regime. Sahoo argued that every govt file passes through a defined process, from section officer to secretary, chief secretary, minister and finally the CMO, with each stage recorded. “At what stage did these files go missing? What does the file movement register show? Has the CCTV footage been examined? Was the system functioning properly? The govt must answer all these questions,” Sahoo said.