Malkangiri: Former Malkangiri District Collector and IAS officer Manish Agarwal appeared before the SDJM Court here today and was granted bail in a suicide case. He presented himself in the court early in the morning and complied with the Supreme Court’s directive to appear before the local court.

Agarwal was granted bail against two sureties of ₹50,000 each. Last month, he was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in connection with the case on abetment of suicide of his personal assistant (PA) when he was the Malkangiri Collector in 2019.

Agarwal had moved the Supreme Court after the Orissa High Court rejected his anticipatory bail petition.

He is currently serving as the Additional Secretary of the Planning and Convergence Department of the Odisha Government.

As per case records, the body of Deba Narayan Panda, who served as the personal assistant to then Malkangiri Collector Manish Agarwal, was recovered from the Satiguda Dam on December 28, 2019. While police initially registered it as a case of unnatural death and suspected suicide, Panda’s wife alleged that the Collector was involved in his murder.

Following her allegations, a murder case was filed against Agarwal, and the SDJM court took cognisance of the charges. However, on June 26, 2023, the Orissa High Court observed that there was no prima facie evidence to support the murder charge. It instead directed the trial court to continue proceedings against Agarwal on charges of abetment to suicide.