Malkangiri, May 6: Retired ORS officer Bhagaban Panigrahi surrendered before the SDJM court in Malkangiri in connection with the death of former Malkangiri Collector PA Debnarayan Panda.

According to reports, a total of four persons are involved in the case. Among them, retired ORS officer Bhagaban Panigrahi has surrendered himself before the court.

Authorities continue their investigation into the case, with legal proceedings expected to follow.

Worth mentioning, Panda went missing on December 27, 2019, and the next day his body was fished out from the Satiguda Dam. Police had initially registered a case of suicide and unnatural death, but Panda’s wife made an allegation of murder against the collector.

Thereafter, Agarwal and three other staff were booked under Sections 302 (murder), 506 (intimidation), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 204 (destruction of a document or electronic record) of IPC.

Subsequently, the sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM), Malkangiri, took cognizance of the charges. The SDJM’s order was challenged in the high court by Agarwal and others accused in the murder case.

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