Odisha Govt Shunts Malkangiri Collector Booked For Murder

Bhubaneswar: In a sudden reshuffle, the Odisha government on Monday transferred the Malkangiri District Collector, Manish Agarwal, and posted him as the Deputy Secretary, Planning & Convergence.

The government appointed 2014 batch IAS officer Yeddula Vijay, at present Deputy Secretary, Planning & Convergence, as the new collector of Malkangiri.

Agarwal’s transfer came a day after Malkangiri police registered a murder case against him and four staffers of the collectorate office in connection with the death of the collector’s Personal Assistant (PA), Deba Narayan Panda.

Acting on the directive of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court, the police have registered the case under Sections 302, 506, 201, 204, 120(b) and 34 of the IPC.

The court directive came in response to a petition filed by the wife of the deceased, Banaja Panda.

Notably, Banaja had lodged a police complaint after her husband went missing on December 27 last year.

Acting on the complaint, police launched a search operation and found Panda’s bike and helmet near Satiguda dam the following day. His body was later found floating in the water body.

Following the incident, Panda’s wife had told the media that her husband might have taken the extreme step as he was under severe work pressure in his office.