Naba Das murder accused Gopal Das is not suffering from mental illness: Court 

In a major development in health minister Naba Das murder case, the court has clarified that accused Gopal Das is not mentally unwell. 

The judgment was passed by the Jharsuguda Additional Sessions Judge court on March 3, 2023 made it clear that Gopal is mentally sound. 

A State government-constituted medical board comprising four experts from the SCB Medical College and Hospital had submitted its report about Gopal’s mental health on February 5. 

On the basis of the report, the court passed its order. 

“The person is conscious, alert, co-operative and communicative. He is well groomed with eye to eye contact. Rapport is established. Mood and affect-appropriate to the situation. Speech is relevant, coherent and goal directed. Thought content-no abnormality, perception-no abnormality, orientation-intact, memory-immediate, recent, remote all intact, judgment-intact, intelligence-average, Abstract thinkning-intact, insight present. The above observation made by the medical board nowhere it is found that the accused is suffering from mental illness,” read the order (sic). 

When asked, Gopal’s advocate Hari Shankar Agarwal said, “We pleaded that if his mental state is good and the medical board has confirmed this, what is the need of his (Gopal’s) further examination.”