India Police Probe Disappearance of State Reports on Sectarian Violence
Law enforcement officials in eastern India have initiated a criminal probe regarding the disappearance of an official government report detailing the slaughter of approximately 100 Christians and the wide-scale devastation of multiple church buildings during sectarian violence in 2008.
Key Highlights
- Odisha police have launched a formal criminal investigation into two missing state inquiry reports.
- One vanished document covers the 2008 Kandhamal riots, India’s most severe episode of anti-Christian persecution.
- A second missing report details a 2016 hospital fire in Bhubaneswar that claimed 22 lives.
- Both sensitive files mysteriously disappeared directly from the secure Chief Ministerβs Office.
The judicial document vanished directly from the Odisha state Chief Ministerβs Office, with the current administration failing to clarify the timeline or circumstances of the loss.
The official Justice A.S. Naidu Commission report scrutinized the underlying triggers of the 2008 communal clashes across the Kandhamal District of Odisha, an event recognized as the most devastating campaign of anti-Christian persecution in the modern history of India. The findings were delivered to state authorities in December 2015 but were never disclosed to the public.
A secondary investigative record concerning an independent probe into a 2016 medical facility fire, which caused 22 fatalities in the state capital of Bhubaneswar, has similarly disappeared from the official archives.
Sarat Chandra Marandi, serving as a joint secretary within the Home Department of Odisha, lodged a formal executive grievance on June 10 at the Capital Police Station in Bhubaneswar, confirming that both files are entirely missing from the Chief Ministerβs Office.
History of the Kandhamal Violence
The 2008 communal riots in Odisha’s Kandhamal district remain a deeply sensitive political and humanitarian topic in India. The violence led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people alongside the destruction of hundreds of homes and places of worship. The establishment of the Justice A.S. Naidu Commission was intended to provide legal accountability and transparency, making the sudden disappearance of its final 2015 submission from the highest office of state governance a significant institutional scandal.
FAQs
What are the missing Odisha government reports about?
The missing files consist of two separate judicial inquiries. The first document investigates the roots of the 2008 anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal, while the second document details an investigation into a 2016 hospital fire in Bhubaneswar that killed 22 individuals.
Where were these official documents last located?
Both highly sensitive investigation reports were kept within the secure premises of the Odisha Chief Ministerβs Office before they were discovered to be missing.
When was the Kandhamal violence report originally submitted?
The Justice A.S. Naidu Commission completed its investigation and officially submitted its final documentation to the state government of Odisha in December 2015, though its contents were never released to the public.
Who filed the police complaint regarding the lost files?
Sarat Chandra Marandi, a joint secretary within the Home Department of Odisha, filed the official criminal complaint at the Capital Police Station in Bhubaneswar on June 10.
