Malkangiri: Malkangiri police Sunday registered a murder case against the district Collector of Malkangiri and three others over the death of his personal assistant Debnarayan Panda.
The case was registered under Sections 302, 506, 201, 204, 120(B) and 34 of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The case was registered following a directive issued by the sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) court.
The cases were registered against the district Collector Manish Agarwal and three others under different Sections of the IPC in connection with the death of Panda, the personal assistant to the Collector, in December last year.
Reports said that Panda went missing December 27 last year. When Panda’s family members launched a search for him, his body was recovered from the Satiguda reservoir, the following day. Police initially suspected that Panda might have committed suicide and registered a case of unnatural death.
However, things took a turn when his wife Banaja Panda alleged that police failed to conduct a proper investigation into the case and knocked the doors of the court praying for justice. She even filed a murder complaint at the police station, but the police allegedly did not register a case.
Panda’s family had also moved the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) seeking its directive to the state police to probe the death case afresh. The commission directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to conduct a proper probe into the matter.
Meanwhile, Panda’s family members requested the court for directing the police to register a murder case against the Collector and three others.
Subsequently, DIG Safin Ahmed K (south-western range) conducted a probe into the incident and recorded the statements of over 20 persons