Brahmapur: Former BJD MLA Bikram Panda is set to undergo a voice spectrography test in connection with the Pitabash Panda murder case, following allegations that he threatened a prosecution witness while behind the bars.
Pitabash, a senior advocate, state Bar Council member and BJP functionary, was shot dead near his Baikuntha Nagar residence in Berhampur on the night of October 6, 2025. Two motorcycle-borne assailants intercepted him around 10 pm as he returned home; one opened fire at close range after confirming his identity with a greeting. Locals rushed him to MKCG Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. The killing sent shockwaves through the legal and political communities and triggered intense public outrage over law and order situation in the city.
Police investigations revealed a meticulously planned conspiracy driven by political ambition, financial disputes and lingering personal enmity. Former Berhampur MLA and then BJD Ganjam district president Bikram Panda, along with former city mayor Siba Shankar Das (alias Pintu Das), were named as the principal conspirators. According to investigators, the duo viewed Pitabash as an obstacle to their political plans, Bikram eyeing the Berhampur assembly seat and Das the mayoral post, amid an ongoing election petition. Old grudges also played a role: Das harboured resentment over a 2013 murder case in which Pitabash had represented the accused, believing the lawyer had delayed the trial and facilitated bail for those who later allegedly targeted him. Once-close friends, Bikram and Pitabash had fallen out after 2018 over political differences and Bar Council elections.
Contract killer were allegedly hired for around Rs 50 lakh. An initial team of hired shooters from Bihar and Odisha conducted reconnaissance but aborted a planned strike on September 14, 2025, due to a family emergency. A second team of local history-sheeters, Kurupatti Bhuyan and Chintu Pradhan, was then engaged. They monitored Pitabash’s routine, received weapons, a bike with a fake number plate and new clothes, and executed the attack on October 6. After the shooting they fled, changed clothes, hid the weapons and sought shelter, including at a farmhouse linked to an associate of Bikram.
By late October 2025, police had arrested 16 people, including Bikram Panda, Das, a BJD corporator and several intermediaries and shooters. Charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, organised crime and Arms Act violations were pressed. A preliminary chargesheet exceeding 1,600 pages was filed in January 2026, followed by a final 390-page chargesheet in June 2026 naming all 16 accused. Bikram remained in custody for about 10 months before securing bail from the Orissa High Court on September 1, 2026, after the court found procedural lapses in his arrest.
The case took a new turn when a prosecution witness, advocate Lalit Mohan Mangaraj, complained that he had received threatening calls on August 28, 2026, while Bikram and associate Madan Dalai were still in Brahmapur circle jail. Gosaninuagaon police registered a case on September 15 against Bikram, Dalai and former jail doctor Sushant Kumar Panigrahy, alleging the duo used the doctor’s mobile phone from inside the jail to intimidate the witness and discourage him from testifying.
Panigrahy has reportedly admitted during questioning that the phone was used by the accused.
On Tuesday, Berhampur police interrogated Bikram for a second time in connection with the threat case (he had earlier been questioned on October 6) and also questioned Panigrahy. “We have completed the necessary legal formalities and are preparing to conduct Bikram Panda’s voice-matching test at the state forensic science laboratory,” Berhampur SP Abhinav Sonkar told TOI.
The spectrography examination will compare his voice samples with an audio recording of the alleged threat call, analysing speech patterns and acoustic features to establish identity. Bikram has denied the allegations as completely baseless, stating he cooperated fully during questioning and responded to all queries. He is scheduled to appear again later this month.
