Once Naveen Patnaik’s blue-eyed boy, expelled BJD leader now faces case after case

The 60-year-old, three-time MLA handled several key portfolios in the Naveen Patnaik government as a minister between 2014 and 2017. He started off with student politics, rising to prominence after he was elected as president of the Berhampur University in 1987-’88.

Panigrahy made his way to the state Assembly in 2009 from the coastal Gopalpur constituency in the Ganjam district. He would hold on to the seat in 2014 and 2019. His first major responsibility, however, came way before that. In 2004, he was nominally appointed to look after developmental work in Patnaik’s own constituency of Hinjili. He continued to nurture Hinjili for more than a decade after becoming an MLA.

In 2015, Panigrahy was appointed as the BJD president of Ganjam, the most-populous district in the state, despite the presence of many senior leaders in the district. However, Panigrahy, who was among the very few in the BJD to have direct access to the CM, is said to have played a vital role in strengthening the party organisation in Ganjam.

Panigrahy was among the council of ministers who, in 2017, were dropped from their posts and were given responsibilities to build the party organisation. Ahead of the 2019 polls, Panigrahy was given charge of 12 Assembly constituencies in the Ganjam and Gajapati districts, The BJD’s victory in as many as nine constituencies out of these is credited to Panigrahy.

But Panigrahy’s relationship with the CM’s office turned sour after he raised questions over the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in Ganjam. He also wrote multiple letters to the CM, alleging that the government was ignoring suggestions of the local MLAs for effective handling of the pandemic.

Party sources speaking to The Indian Express said Panigrahy’s association with the CM and his team of bureaucrats developed further cracks after he flagged irregularities in the implementation of several schemes and programmes of the BJD government. After the 2019 polls, he was gradually sidelined and was not invited to key government meetings and party programmes.

On November 29, 2020, Panigrahy was expelled from the BJD for “anti-people” activities. Four days later, on December 3, he was arrested by the Crime Branch of Odisha Police on charges of forgery, fraud and criminal conspiracy and accused of duping several job aspirants on the pretext of giving them employment in Tata Motors. The son of former Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Abhay Kant Pathak, Akash Pathak, was also a co-accused in the case. In May 2021, the state government had given compulsory retirement to the IFS officer on charges of corruption. Panigrahy’s daughter was scheduled to get married to Akash.

Subsequently, multiple cases with similar charges were registered against Panigrahy in different police stations in Ganjam.

Panigrahy was arrested in December 2020. He was released in June 2021 after spending little over seven months in jail. The vigilance wing of the Naveen Patnaik government, on the order of the Lokayukta of Odisha, registered another case against Panigrahy on October 4th 2021. The Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018 case charged Panigrahy of possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of income during his tenure as a public servant between May 2009 to December 2020.

Over the past few years, Patnaik has shown the door to many of his detractors including Bijoy Mohapatra, Nalini Mohanty and Dilip Ray. In 2012, the Odisha CM had expelled then Rajya Sabha member and his once advisor Pyari Mohan Mohapatra from the party. In January 2018, Naveen suspended party MP Baijayant Panda, considered a party’s face in New Delhi, for alleged “anti-party” activities. Panda went on to join the BJP.