Kendrapada: Senior lawyer Sachitananda Mohanty passed away on Friday at his residence in Odisha’s Kendrapada. He was 93.
He died of old-age ailments, family sources said.
Mohanty, a former president of the district lawyers’ association, had over a 60-year stint in the bar. Court works in the district were suspended on Friday as a mark of respect to Mohanty, a native of Chandol area in the district.
Mohanty, a voracious reader who earned a reputation as an expert in civil and criminal laws, was also the president of the 124-year-old Diamond Jubilee Public Library, established in 1897, in Kendrapada.
He was also among the few persons in Odisha, who had a passion for the snooker game and was instrumental in setting up a billiard table in the Jubilee Library. Mohanty also served as the governing body chief of Kendrapada College.
He is survived by three sons and two daughters.
His mortal remain was taken to the Kendrapada Bar, Jubilee Library and Kendrapara College in a procession before being taken to Puri for the last rites at Swargadwar. Mohanty’s younger son Biswadas Mohanty lit the funeral pyre.
Mohanty’s younger sister and eminent woman writer Binapani Mohanty is a Padma awardee.
Former minister Ganeswar Behera, Kendrapada MLA Sashibhusan Behera, Rajnagar MLA Dhruba Charan Sahoo and district judge Gopal Charan Behera mourned his death.
