Odisha Crime Branch to probe missing judicial report on VHP leader’s killing

VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and four associates were shot dead by Maoists at his ashram in Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Aug. 23, 2008

Published on: Jul 27, 2026, 22:02:45 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty, Bhubaneswar

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Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday ordered the Crime Branch to take over the probe into the missing judicial inquiry report into the 2008 killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi (ANI Photo)

A first information report (FIR) was registered last month on a complaint by the state home department over the disappearance of the Justice AS Naidu Commission report and the Revenue Divisional Commissioner’s inquiry report on the 2016 SUM Hospital fire in Bhubaneswar.

Laxmanananda Saraswati and four associates were shot dead by Maoists at his ashram in Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Aug. 23, 2008. The killings triggered one of the state’s worst episodes of communal violence, leaving at least 38 people dead and hundreds of homes and places of worship damaged. The Naidu commission submitted its report in 2016.

The Revenue Divisional Commissioner submitted the report on the October 2016 SUM Hospital fire in 2018. The blaze killed 24 people after smoke spread through the intensive care, dialysis and emergency wards of the private hospital in Bhubaneswar.

In its police complaint, the Odisha home department’s joint secretary Sarat Chandra Marandi said they had been unable to locate the two reports despite an extensive search.

“The two reports are presently untraceable at the CMO. The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of these two reports create a reasonable suspicion that the reports may have been intentionally removed, retained, concealed, destroyed or otherwise unlawfully dealt with,” the FIR said.

This is the sixth investigation handed over to the Crime Branch since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government headed by Mohan Charan Majhi assumed office in June 2024.

Among the earlier cases assigned to the agency are the alleged custodial abuse, assault and sexual harassment of an Indian Army officer’s fiancée inside Bharatpur Police Station of Bhubaneswar in September 2024; the self-immolation of a 20-year-old student of Fakir Mohan College in Balasore following allegations of sexual harassment by a professor and alleged irregularities and question paper leaks in the Odisha Police Sub-Inspector recruitment examination, which was subsequently transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Besides, the lynching of a Government Railway Police constable near Bhubaneswar over allegations that he attempted to assault two women was handed over to the Crime Branch, as well as the alleged conspiracy behind errors in Odisha school textbooks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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