POCSO judge’s death takes new turn as family alleges foul play

CUTTACK: Judge of Special POCSO Court, Cuttack Subas Kumar Bihari’s alleged suicide took a new turn on Saturday when his mother Tulasi Bihari filed an FIR with Markat Nagar police station alleging that he was murdered by his in-laws.

The 70-year-old Tulasi reached the police station accompanied by her younger son and nephews and submitted a complaint alleging that his 49-year-old son Subas was murdered by his wife Aparajita Ray and her cousin Sarbajeet Ray.

“My son had married Aparajita Ray of nearby Kalasadhia village 15 years back. After marriage, there was good relation between them and my family for about three years. Then their relation with my family ceased to exist. My son often had been apprising me of being tortured physically and mentally by his wife and her cousin who used to stay with them,” said Tulasi in her FIR.

On Friday at about 1.57 pm, her younger son Subodh was informed over phone to come to Ashwini Hospital stating that his brother had allegedly hung himself, the FIR read.

“After being informed, I along with my younger son, son-in-law and some neighbours reached the hospital and found him brought dead. I noticed injury marks on my son’s neck, chest and belly. After going through the injury marks, we suspect that both his wife and her cousin had hung his body after killing him,” stated Tulasi in her FIR.

“After postmortem, when my younger son, son-in-law and neighbours wanted to take the body to our village for last rites, they did not allow and started abusing. They even slapped them and took away my son’s body to Puri for cremation,” Tulasi alleged in the FIR while urging police to look into the matter and initiate necessary legal action.

Speaking to mediapersons, Tulasi’s younger son Subodh also demanded a high-level probe into the matter. DCP Pinak Mishra said the police have received the complaint from Tulasi. “We are looking into the incident from all angles. Postmortem report is awaited for further investigation,” said Mishra.