Senior Odisha IPS Officer Debasis Panigrahi Succumbs To COVID Complications

Bhubaneswar: Director of the Odisha Vigilance Directorate, Debasis Panigrahi, breathed his last around 10.15 pm on Friday while undergoing treatment for COVID complications at a super speciality hospital in Kolkata.

Panigrahi was admitted to Ashwini COVID Hospital in Cuttack on May 29 after being diagnosed with the virus. He was shifted to the ICU and then kept on a ventilator after his condition deteriorated on June 7 despite him being fully vaccinated in April.

After his condition deteriorated and he developed complications, including inflammation of the lungs, doctors advised ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) treatment.

Also Read: Last Rites Of Vigilance Director Debasis Panigrahi In Cuttack Today

On June 8, a green corridor was created between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, covering a distance of 30km, to ensure the smooth passage of the ambulance carrying the ailing 1991-batch IPS officer to the Biju Patnaik airport and he was airlifted to Kolkata.

Also Read: Green Corridor: Ambulance With COVID-Infected Senior Cop Races For Bhubaneswar Airport

Expressing grief over his death, former Twin City Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi tweeted, “We have lost Debasish Panigrahi. Have no words to express my grief. It’s a devastating blow to Odisha Police, Odia literature and to me personally.”

‘Mellowed with Years’, a collection of poems in English, by Panigrahi, was released in March this year. He was a bilingual writer and poet.