Odisha: Govt shifts Malkangiri collector a day after police files murder case against him

BHUBANESWAR: A day after police registered a murder case on Malkangiri collector Manish Agrawal on a case relating to the death of his personal assistant Deba Narayan Panda, the Odisha government has shifted him as deputy secretary of the Planning and Convergence Department.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) and deputy secretary of Planning and Convergence department Y Vijay has replaced him as Malkangiri collector. Cases have also been registered against three other staff of the collector’s office. Cases have been filed against the collector and three other staff on the direction of the Court of the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Malkangiri.

All of them have been booked under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 204 (destruction of document or electronic record), 302 (murder), 506 (intimidation), and 34(common intention) of Indian Penal Code.

The court directive came in response to a petition filed by the wife of the deceased, Banaja Panda. Panda had gone missing on December 27 last year and a day later, his body was fished out from Satiguda dam. Panda’s family members had filed a missing complaint at Malkangiri police station after Panda who had left his office chamber after 1 pm did not return home till night.

Following the incident, Panda’s wife had told the media that her husband might have taken the extreme step as he was under severe work pressure in his office. Following the direction of the SDJM court, a five-member SIT with a deputy SP as the investigating officer has been formed to probe the case.