HC Orders Fresh Probe By Odisha Crime Branch In Rayagada ‘Honour Killing’ Case

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has ordered a Crime Branch probe into the honour killing case in which 25-year-old Siba Prasad, a heavy vehicle driver, was allegedly killed by his girlfriend’s family in March 2012.

The court issued the order on the basis of a petition filed by his father Ratnalu Omprakash, a tea seller, on January 30, 2013, seeking a re-investigation after police claimed that he was mentally ill and had died by suicide.

The petitioner alleged that his son’s death was a case of ‘honour killing’. Siba was in love with the 20-year-old daughter of Dharma Rao Gajibili, a prosperous man of Gaganapeta village and both had decided to get married. He was found hanging from the branch of a small tree with his foot touching the ground in a desolate place in the village several hours after allegedly being forcibly taken away from his house by some persons related to the girl’s family.

The petitioner counsel Jeevan Ranjan Dash cited a Supreme Court judgment which said that if inquiry is not done properly, this becomes a fit case for a re-investigation

“On perusal of the materials available in the case diary reveals that there are some infirmities. In view of such infirmities, it seems that there have been a lot of mismatches in the process of recording of evidence,” Justice S K Panigrahi noted on April 26 and handed over the matter to the CID-crime branch for a fresh probe.