Two senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers, part of a delegation to Lok Bhavan for a courtesy meeting with governor Haribabu Khambampati, were allegedly subjected to high-handed and unwarranted treatment by security officials during their visit on Thursday.
They were taken from the Lok Bhavan to the police station and later released. While security officials questioned the sobriety of the officers during their visit to the Lok Bhavan, the governor's secretariat has ordered an internal probe. Both IRS officers are currently working at the Bhubaneswar Income Tax Circle.
The two officers have been identified as Manish Kumar (IRS 2015 batch) and Satya Prakash Mishra (IRS 2023 batch). The two officers allegedly misbehaved while en route to Lok Bhavan for a scheduled courtesy visit to the governor by the principal chief commissioner of Income Tax (Odisha region), D. Sudhakar Rao. They were travelling in a separate vehicle. The security officials first obstructed them, then allowed them to enter, but again asked them to wait in a hall. Later, they were forcibly removed and taken to the police station, sources said.
Protesting against the behaviour meted out to the two officers, Rao wrote a letter to the commissioner-cum-secretary to the governor, Roopa Roshan Sahoo, and urged her to look into the conduct of the security staff.
Rao wrote: "...It is particularly galling that these officers, who were on official duty and acting under my direct instructions, were treated as unauthorised entrants." An inquiry has been initiated.