The Malkangiri police on Sunday lodged a murder case against district Collector Manish Agarwal and three other officials.
On the direction of the Malkangiri sub-divisional judicial magistrate, the police registered a case against the four under Sections 302, 506, 201, 204, 120 (B) and 34 of the IPC in connection with the death of Mr. Agarwal’s former personal assistant, Debnarayan Panda.
Panda was found dead near Satiguda Dam on December 28 last year, a day after he went missing from his office under mysterious circumstances.
The police initially suspected it to be a case of suicide but later converted it into a case of unnatural death.
After six months of the incident, family members of Panda went public alleging foul play. Apart from meeting top officials and requesting them for a fair investigation, they sought the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission in the case.
Banaja Panda, wife of the deceased, moved the court of the SDJM, Malkangiri seeking registration of a case of murder against the district collector. She alleged that her husband had come to know about certain corruption cases involving the district collector and others for which he might have been killed.
The SDJM directed the local police to register a case, investigate and report to the court. The court has fixed the next hearing on November 24.
