Graft case lodged against former Odisha DGP Prakash Mishra

Bhubaneshwar: Odisha’s former police chief Prakash Mishra has accused the Naveen Patnaik government of trying to stop him from becoming the CBI chief by registering a vigilance inquiry against him in a corruption case.

Mishra, currently special secretary for internal security at the Ministry of Home Affairs, is being investigated for his decision to place certain orders worth Rs 59 crore with steel and cement suppliers when he was heading the Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation during 2006-2009. According to Mishra, a local TV channel said citing him, if he was being investigated then how did the state decide to appoint him as the director general of police in 2012?

Mishra had fallen out of favour with Chief Minister Patnaik during the 2014 general elections, according to senior Biju Janata Dal politicians, for his views predicting a BJP victory in the state. Instead, Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal returned to power with a stronger majority than ever before. After the elections, he was transferred to the Odisha Road Transport Corporation as chairman and managing director, but he didn’t take up that position. He then moved to the home ministry.

Mishra had declined to comment on the transfer at the time.

Odisha had recommended Mishra's name in December 2013 for the CBI post, but changed its mind withdrawing its recommendation a week after the poll results in May, citing an acute shortage of police officials in the state.