Paralakhemundi ACF death: 6-member police team begins probe

Paralakhemundi: A 6-member team of the Paralakhemundi police today headed towards Balasore and Mayurbhanj for further investigation in connection with the death of Paralakhemundi Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra.

The team is likely to question the parents of the deceased in Balasore and Mohapatra’s wife Bidya Bharati Panda at Kaptipada in Mayurbhanj.

On the other hand, the mystery surrounding the ACF’s death deepened further as there is no scoop that he died in a fire mishap at his residential quarters here.

Source said that the police and scientific team initiated investigation in presence of the deceased ACF’s father Abhiram Mohapatra and family members at the government quarters on Friday. However, the probe team did not find any clue that will establish the fact that the forest official had caught fire inside the room.

The police and scientific team officials could smell something like odors of smoke inside the room. But they did not find any traces of inflammable objects that could cause the fire mishap. Even there was no sign of fire that could have damaged other items including plastic articles and some paper documents, the source said.

The police informed that Gajapati DFO Sangram Keshari Behera, one of the suspects in mysterious death of the young OFS officer, will be grilled in one or two days.

The DFO and the deceased’s wife came under police scanner after the ACF’s father lodged a written complaint against them and a cook alleging their involvement in the ‘murder’ case.

He termed the death of his son as a pre-planned murder over extramarital affair. He accused Bidya Bharati, the DFO and cook of killing Soumya Ranjan and demanded a probe by the Crime Branch into the incident.

The OFS Officer succumbed to burn injuries on July 13 morning while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Cuttack.