Official Found Dead In Govt Quarters In Odisha’s Phulbani, Family Alleges Murder

Phulbani: An official of Horticulture department of Odisha government was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Phulbani on Saturday.

According to sources, the official, Bijay Kumar Nayak belonging to Bhadrak district, was working as Demonstration Assistant in the office of Deputy Director of Horticulture, Kandhamal.

He was found hanging from the ceiling fan of a room in his official residence at Phulbani on Saturday afternoon. Some employees of his office informed the local police about Bijay’s death.

Later, the police informed his family in Bhadrak and sent the body for post-mortem. They have registered a case of unnatural death and started investigation.

But Bijay’s family has alleged that he did not commit suicide and was murdered. His son claimed that Bijay had talked to him, his sister and mother over phone at around 2 pm.

“My father transferred Rs 2000 from his account to me through PhonePe at 3.48 pm on Saturday. After receiving the amount, I immediately called him back to know why he had sent the money, but the phone was switched off. At 4.15 pm, my sister told me that my father was no more,” he said.

The family suspected that since there was very little gap between the time Bijay sent the money and his death was reported, he could not have committed suicide.

They demanded the police to investigate all angles including murder to give justice to the deceased official.