A court in Odisha’s Gajapati has summoned two persons including a divisional forest officer (DFO) in connection with the death of an assistant conservator of forests, holding that there appeared to be sufficient material to proceed against them in the case.
The court order comes nearly 18 months after the state criminal investigation department gave a clean chit to the forest officer and was passed following a petition by the father of the victim, Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra who died of burn injuries in his official residence in July 2021
Paralakhemundi sub-divisional judicial magistrate Varsha Sharma ordered Mohapatra’s wife Bidya Bharati Panda, DFO Sangarm Keshari and cook Manmath Kumbh to appear before the court on April 27. The three will face murder and criminal conspiracy charges.
On the night of July 11, 2021, Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra, an Odisha Forest Service officer of the 2020 batch who was working as the assistant conservator of forests in the Paralakhemundi area of Gajapati district, sustained over 80% burns at his official quarters. It was claimed that he sustained the injuries when he was burning old newspapers and some papers.
Mohapatra was rushed to MKCG Medical College and hospital in Berhampur town from where he was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital of Cuttack. On July 13, he was shifted to a private hospital where he died.
{{/usCountry}}Mohapatra was rushed to MKCG Medical College and hospital in Berhampur town from where he was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital of Cuttack. On July 13, he was shifted to a private hospital where he died.
{{/usCountry}}Mohapatra’s father Abhiram accused his daughter-in-law Bidya Bharati Panda, who married his son in December 2020, and the DFO of conspiring to kill his son and alleged that the two were in a relationship.
The State CID which was probing the case gave a clean chit to the DFO Sangram Keshari Behera and cook Manmath Kumbh, but booked his wife Bidya Bharati under sections 304-A (causing death by negligence) and 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) of the Indian Penal Code.
CID said the DFO and the cook had no role in the fire and did not find any evidence that the DFO and Bidya Bharati were in a relationship as alleged by Mohapatra’s father.