Trouble Mounts For Senior Odisha IAS Officer Manish Agarwal In PA Death Case As Court Issues NBW

Bhubaneswar: A court in Odisha has issued non-bailable warrant (NBW) against senior IAS officer Manish Aagrwal in connection with the mysterious death of his personal assistant (PA) during his tenure as Malkangiri Collector in 2019.

The court of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) in Malkangiri also issued NBWs against three others in connection with the case.

NBW was issued against the Agarwal, who is now posted as the Additional Secretary to Planning & Convergence Department in the state, after he failed to depose before the court despite the issuance of several notices in the case.

When Agarwal was Malkangiri Collector, his PA Deba Narayan Panda went missing from his office on December 27, 2019.

Panda’s body was recovered from Satiguda dam in the district the next day. The police had initially registered a case of suicide and later an unnatural death case in connection with Panda’s death.

However, Panda’s wife levelled allegation of murder against the then collector. Agarwal and three other staff were later booked under Sections 302 (murder), 506 (intimidation), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 204 (destruction of document or electronic record) of IPC. After registration of the case, the state government had shifted him as deputy secretary of the planning and convergence department.

Modifying the lower court order, which had taken cognisance of charges against senior IAS officer, the High Court of Orissa in June 2023 had substituted the offence of murder with the offence of abetting suicide. The Single Judge Bench of Justice Sashikanta Mishra had observed that there is prima facie no evidence to even suggest the death was homicidal in nature. It, however, directed the trial court to proceed against Agarwal for the offence of abetting suicide and dispose of the case preferably within eight months.

The IAS officer had subsequently moved the Supreme Court (SC) which in September 2023 stayed the trial proceedings against him.

However, the Supreme Court in November 2024 cleared the way for the trial of the senior IAS officer in the case. The apex court dismissed Agarwal’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the Orissa High Court’s June 2023 judgment.