By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:On August 23, 2008, on the holy Janmashtami day, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, who had been working for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for more than 40 years and was very popular in the entire Odisha for his services, was murdered in Kandhamal. Despite being fatally attacked on several occasions, no attention was paid to his security. Even during this murder, the then police administration did not provide him with the security that was supposed to be provided.
In fact, the security provided to him on the day Swamiji was murdered was withdrawn. After such a heartbreaking incident, the then government set up a commission headed by Justice Sarat Mohapatra. Justice Mohapatra was the head of this commission when he passed away before reaching his full potential. After this, Justice A.S. Naidu took charge of this commission and took the investigation forward. After nearly 8 years of tireless work, the commission submitted its report to the then state government on September 16, 2016.
After this, the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that the report be made public inside and outside the assembly. But the then government did not give the necessary importance to this incident. In 2024, after it was learned that the BJP was coming to power, files were also stolen from the Chief Minister’s office. The BJD and the then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should answer what was the conspiracy behind this, said State General Secretary Shri Biranchi Narayan Tripathi at a press conference held at the state office.
Mr. Tripathi said that although the commission had submitted its investigation report in 2016, it was not made public until 2024, even after the BJD government took over. The BJP had also repeatedly pressed for the commission to be made public before the elections. After the BJP came to power in June 2024, it also tried to make the file public. But it is very unfortunate that even after searching for the said file, it was not found. In this regard, the BJP government had also sent letters to former Chief Minister and current Leader of the Opposition Naveen at various times, asking about the file. But no response was received from Naveen.
After searching the file on behalf of the BJP government, it was found that the file was sent to the then government by the commission on September 16, 2016. On September 19, 2016, the Chief Secretary had sent the investigation file to Naveen’s office for a decision. But no decision was taken then. On June 4, 2024, when the BJP was ahead during the counting of votes and it was known that the BJD government was going to fall from power, the file was stolen. The then Chief Minister’s office had sent all the files to the Home Department at that time.
Only two files were not received. They were the report on the Laxmananand Saraswati murder incident and the subsequent violence and the other was the RDSI investigation report on the Sam Hospital fire incident. Justice Naidu said that the commission had given a report of one and a half thousand to two thousand pages in two volumes. The file was searched for by the Odisha government at various places. But since it was not found, a letter was written to the then Chief Minister Naveen on October 23, 2025. Even after the Home Department wrote a letter, Naveen did not respond. On November 4, 2025, a letter was sent to Naveen again asking where the file was. Later, on November 15, 2025, the private secretary of the then Chief Minister Naveen, the leader of the opposition party, wrote a letter to the Odisha government informing him that Naveen had asked him to find the file.
This revealed that there was a deep conspiracy behind this. First, Swamiji was killed by a conspiracy. Later, out of fear of being caught, the file of his murder investigation was also stolen. Due to the conspiracy to steal the file, the real face of BJD and Naveen Babu has been exposed. The people of Odisha will never forgive Naveen in this regard. Because through this file, the reason behind Swamiji’s murder and who is involved in this incident would have been known.
Not only that, the illegal religious conversion work going on in Kandhamal and its surrounding areas would have also been exposed. It was said that religious conversion was going on in the said area at the instigation of the then government. This important file was stolen in fear of the incident being exposed. BJD needs to answer for this. The police administration will also conduct a proper investigation on the basis of the FIR filed by the government in this incident. If the commission report is found to have evidence of planned theft, then strict action will be taken, said Shri Tripathi. Balasore District In-charge and senior leader Shri Gautam Ray was present at this press conference.
