A criminal revision petition alleging misuse of government helicopters by former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the then 5T Secretary V.K. Pandian was dismissed on Wednesday by the Khordha District and Sessions Judge.
The court held that the complainant, Sudhir Chandra Mohanty, failed to make out any offence, did not follow the mandatory procedure under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023, and lacked locus standi to file the complaint.
District and Sessions Judge, Khordha at Bhubaneswar, found no illegality in the earlier order of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Bhubaneswar, dated 25 March 2026, which had already dismissed the original complaint (ICC No. 69160/2024). The revision petition, numbered Criminal Revision No. 171/2026, was rejected as “devoid of merit.”
The allegation claimed that Patnaik and Pandian had used helicopters at a cost of around Rs 500 crore from the government treasury. Mohanty first approached Capital Police Station. When police did not register an FIR, he moved the SDJM court. After calling for a report from police, the magistrate dismissed the complaint as not making out a cognizable case. Mohanty then filed the revision before the District Judge.
Counsel appearing for the former Chief Minister and Pandian — senior advocate and former Advocate General Ashok Kumar Parija and advocate Sitanshu Mohan Dwivedi — informed that the complainant produced neither supporting material nor complied with Section 173(4) of the BNSS before presenting the complaint. The court also noted the absence of standing under Section 33 of the BNSS.
Dwivedi said the petitioner could not place any facts or evidence before the court to substantiate the charge. The judge therefore upheld the lower court’s dismissal.
The order brings a formal close to the private complaint at the district court level. The case had drawn attention because of the high-profile respondents and the large sum cited in the allegation.
The court, however, confined itself to the legal and evidentiary shortcomings on record and did not examine the political controversy surrounding official travel during the previous government.
