Bhubaneswar: In a major move, the BJP government led by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi today appointed retired IPS Officer and former DGP Prakash Mishra as Advisor to the Chief Minister.
Shri Mishra has been given the rank of Cabinet Minister. After being appointed in the crucial post, Shri Mishra said the government has given him an important responsibility and he will try to discharge the duty to serve the people of Odisha.
Shri Mishra further said that focus will be given to how the new BJP government will function properly and resolve the issues concerning the people of the State.
Shri Mishra had served as DGP of Odisha from July 2012 to July 2014. The then BJD government had removed him as Chief of Odisha Police in July 2014 and slapped a vigilance case on him in September 2014.
Later, he went on central deputation and joined as the Director General of CRPF and retired in February 2016.
The Odisha vigilance had alleged that during his tenure as chairman-cum managing director of Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation between 2006 and 2009, Shri Mishra showed undue benefits to material suppliers causing Rs 7.27 crore loss to the state exchequer. The Orissa high court quashed the charges against Shri Mishra in June 2015.
Post retirement, Shri Mishra was appointed one of the two advisers to then Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul amid political turmoil in the hill State when President’s rule was imposed in 2016.
After he joined the BJP on March 24, 2019, the saffron party had fielded him from Cuttack Parliamentary constituency in 2019 which he lost to Bhartruhari Mahtab, who was a candidate of the BJD during the 2019 election but now represents the constituency as BJP MP.