Mahanga Double Murder: IIC Slapped With Show Cause Notice For Buying Court’s Time 

The Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Court, Salepur issued a show cause notice to the Inspector-In-Charge (IIC) of Mahanga police station while hearing a petition in connection with the sensational double murder case on Saturday. 

The court asked IIC, Nihar Mohanty to explain by December 10 as to why coercive and punitive action will not be taken against him as per CrPC for not appearing before it and repeatedly buying time for filing reinvestigation report and call detail record (CDR) of three accused in the case.

In its nine-page order, the court rejected a time petition filed by the police officer and issued the show cause notice under Section 171 of Indian Evidence Act and 311 of CrPC. Apart from submitting reply to the show cause notice, the court expected the cop to furnish the reinvestigation report and up-to-date CDR by December 10. 

“If the IIC does not submit the report before the court by December 10, the court will take serious view and assume that he is deliberately avoiding submission of the documents before it. A copy of the order has been sent to the IIC and Cuttack SP for compliance,” informed petitioner Ramakanta Baral’s lawyer Prabin Kanungo. 

According to sources, the JMFC court had ordered a fresh probe into the brutal murder of BJP leader Kulamani Baral and his associate Dibyasingha Baral on January 2 this year after Ramakanta Baral, the son of the slain BJP leader had moved the court challenging dropping of the name of Minister Pratap Jena from the chargesheet.

On November 20, the Salepur JMFC court had directed the police to submit probe status report and CDR of deceased Prafulla Biswal, the prime accused in the case and two associates of Minister Pratap Jena- Sarat Nayak and Bapi Biswal by November 25.

The court had given four days more time to Mahanga police, till November 29, after it failed to file the reinvestigation status report within the stipulated deadline. However, on November 29, the Mahanga police had sought one month more time to file reports.