Odisha ex-DGP who fell foul of Naveen Patnaik, ‘missed out’ on CBI top job, is now CM’s advisor: Who is Prakash Mishra?

Based on his nearly four decades of experience in policing in various positions, Mishra is expected to advise the Odisha CM on issues related to the police, intelligence, and law and order. He is expected to fill the IPS void in the Chief Minister’s Office.

“I express my gratitude to the Chief Minister. I will try to resolve various issues faced by the people in a collective manner. We will try to ensure that state’s law and order and crime situation will not hinder state’s progress,” Mishra after his appointment.

A 1977-batch IPS officer, Mishra was brought back from central deputation to head the Odisha police in July 2012, days after the Patnaik government made massive changes in the administration following his former advisor Pyari Mohan Mohapatra’s failed attempt to remove him on May 29 that year.

Mishra’s return to Odisha also came at a time when Maoist insurgency was at its peak, with over 50% of the state’s 30 districts grappling with the challenge posed by left-wing extremism. Police sources said his vast experience and exposure were instrumental in the decline of Maoist activities in the state.

In July 2014, Mishra was removed as DGP and placed as chairman-cum-managing director of the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation, a non-police cadre position. It was considered a punishment posting.

Months later, the BJD government lodged a vigilance case against Mishra on charges of “financial impropriety” during his tenure as the chairman of the state-run Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OSPHWC), where he had served from 2006 to 2009. In the case, the Vigilance Department alleged that Mishra made an advance payment of Rs 59 crore for some steel and cement supplies in 2009 against the existing rules.

The vigilance case was lodged in September 2014, weeks ahead of the selection of CBI chief for which he was a frontrunner and it is said to have spoiled his chance to get the top job. Mishra was serving as special secretary for internal security at the Union Ministry of Home Affairs when he faced the vigilance case.

The development came at a time when the CBI intensified its probe into a chit-fund scam worth thousands of crores in Odisha and arrested several BJD leaders, including some MLAs and an MP.

The Orissa High Court in June 2015 quashed the vigilance case. “It’s not uncommon that honest and upright officers are victimised by political establishments,” Justice S C Parija stated in his order. Though the state government challenged the order in the Supreme Court, the top court rejected it soon afterwards.

According to some senior police officers, Mishra was a victim of a “political conspiracy” to stop him from becoming the CBI director. “His differences with top bosses of power started after he refused to tow the BJD line during the 2014 general and Assembly polls as DGP. Mishra was an upright officer and took a lot of steps to improve policing, especially the left-wing extremism situation,” said a retired police officer who did not wish to be named.

At the book launch event, Pradhan referred to the vigilance case and said it would have been a matter of pride for Odisha if someone from the state had become the CBI director. Pradhan also took a dig at the Patnaik government over this.

In 2013, when Mishra was shortlisted for appointment to the post of special director in the CBI, the BJD government cleared his central deputation. It withdrew its recommendation in May 2014 citing “shortage of police officers in the state at the DG level” as the reason.

In December 2014, Mishra was appointed director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from where he retired in 2016. After his retirement, Mishra was appointed one of the advisors to Uttarakhand governor K K Paul, when the President’s Rule was imposed in the state. He has also served in the National Investigation Agency and the National Disaster Relief Force.

Mishra started his electoral journey in the BJP after joining the party ahead of the 2019 polls and contested from the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat, but lost. Since then, he has not been active in state politics.