Behera, a 2010 batch IFS officer, angrily pushed the microphone of a TV journalist when he was quizzed about his alleged illicit relationship with the deceased Soumya’s wife Bidya Bharati Panda and his presence during the recording of the dying declaration of ACF.
“I have told everything to the Crime Branch; I will not tell anything to you; it is my wish; I have every right not to speak,” the DFO angrily told the reporters.
A Crime Branch team, headed by DSP Gyana Ranjan Mishra, probing the death case of ACF Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra interrogated the DFO this afternoon.
“The DFO has denied the charge of his relationship with Bidya Bharati. He has also denied the charge that he used to send him (deceased ACF) on night,” revealed Mishra speaking to reporters after interrogating the DFO.
On the night of July 12, Soumya Ranjan, a 2020 batch Odisha Forest Service officer, was rescued with over 90 per cent burn injuries and was admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital here. Later, he was shifted to a private hospital at Cuttack where he succumbed the next day.
Soumya’s family has alleged that Bidya Bharati and DFO Behera are behind the ACF’s death, a charge both have refuted.
A case under sections 302 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at Paralakhemundi police station.
As the mystery of ACF’s death remained unsolved even after a month, the case was handed over to the Odisha Crime Branch.
