Bhubaneswar: The Home Department in Odisha has written to the Director General of Police (DGP) to probe the sinking of Mongolian vessel MV Black Rose in the Bay of Bengal off Paradeep coast in 2009.

The Home Department wrote to the DGP and the Crime Branch of Odisha Police to probe the Black Rose sinking case after RTI activist Pradeep Pradhan raised the issue with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi recently.

Pradhan reportedly urged the state government to solve the mystery shrouding the sinking of Black Rose near Paradeep port in Jagatsinghpur district on September 9, 2009.

The RTI activist has sought a CBI investigation into the case.

The Mongolian ship had sunk in Paradeep sea while allegedly carrying iron ore and furnace oil to China. The authorities of Paradeep Port Trust had lodged an FIR in this regard with the local Marine Police Station.

The CBI had conducted a preliminary inquiry into the case and asked the Odisha government in 2019 to submit all documents in connection with the Black Rose case.

It has been alleged that the BJD government in Odisha did not submit the required documents to the CBI.

As per the allegations, a few influential BJD leaders were involved in the illegal transportation of iron ore through the Mongolian ship.

“A few BJD leaders were involved in the Black Rose case. The previous BJD government in Odisha had tried its best to hush up the case. A proper inquiry into the case will solve the mystery shrouding the sinking of the vessel in Paradeep sea,” said senior BJP leader and Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayan Mishra.

The BJD, however, said the state government is free to probe the case. “Law should take its own course. We have no issue if the state government wants to probe the Black Rose case,” said BJD leader Satya Narayan Pradhan.