Bhubaneswar: The state government will conduct a fresh probe into the mysterious death of Panchayat Extension Officer (PEO) Smitarani Biswal in Odisha’s Jajpur district in 2019.

This was revealed by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at an event at Barchana in Jajpur today.

“PEO Smitarani was doing her work. Some leaders of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) utilized Smitarani for their purposes. They finally killed her. Smitarani’s husband met me recently and urged for a fresh probe into the incident. The BJP government will reopen the case and ensure justice for the victim,” said the Chief Minister.

Smitarani, the PEO of Haridaspur Gram Panchayat in Jajpur district, was found hanging in a private guest house in the locality under mysterious circumstances on October 16, 2019.

Rupesh Bhadra, the husband of then local Sarpanch, was the owner of the private guest house. However, the private guest house was demolished a few days after Smitarani’s death.

Smitarani’s husband had then alleged that she was murdered at the private guest house.

The BJP, which was then the main Opposition party in Odisha, had raised the issue in the Assembly and sought an impartial probe into the incident.

Citing the postmortem report, the BJD government in the state had then claimed that Smitarani died by suicide.