Baripada: Adding a new twist to the mysterious death of Parlakhemundi Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Soumya Rajan Mohapatra, the wife of the deceased officer, Bidya Bharati Panda, who was tight-lipped over the murder charges levelled against her by her in-laws, today opened up by claiming that her late husband had extra-marital relationship with other women.
"He (Soumya) used to send 'I Love You' messages to other women over Whatsapp chat," Bidya Bharati claimed.
Soumya had changed the password of his mobile phone after she learnt his relationship. Even he had removed the contact lists, call history and cleared Whatsapp chat history, Bidya further alleged.
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"He used to speak to other women over phone. I had once caught him red-handed," she claimed.
Bidya further maintained that she learnt about his affairs three months after marriage.
The widow of the late forest officer has refuted the charges regarding the agreement paper on property transfer. The unsigned agreement paper had been seized by the police.
Bidya claimed that she is unaware of the agreement that was allegedly made for the transfer of Soumya's salary and properties.
Police had seized the unsigned affidavit in which Soumya purportedly delcared his wife as the sole claimant of his property and salary if anything happened to him.
Clarifying on the bachelor party, Bidya said that it was a post-marriage feast. “As I could not invite my friends during marriage due to Covid restrictions, I had thrown a party for them. It was not like what they alleged,” Bidya pointed out.
On the other hand, Soumya’s family denied the extra-marital charge levelled by Bidya. “Her statement is a ploy to escape police action. My son had never kept any illicit relationship with anyone. Many of his friends used to call him on several occasion. Some of them have tied ‘Rakhi’ to Soumya,” Soumya’s mother Tulasi Mohapatra said.
Bidya Bharati's father rubbished the charges of family feud between his daughter and son-in-law.
"There was no such conflict between my daughter and son-in-law. Whatever was there between them had been resolved. The family members of my daughter's in-laws are nice while my son-in-law was Godly," he said.
Clarifying over police inspector Mamata Panda who had allegedly detained the ambulance carrying an injured Soumya to hospital, he said that the woman police officer happens to be one of his distant relatives.
"I don't know her personally," he added.
Meanwhile, the family of Bidya has released some photographs claiming good relationship between the couple following marriage.
The police team from Paralakhemundi meanwhile, questioned Bidya Bharati and her family members along with Soumya’s family members on Monday as a part of the alleged murder probe.
Soumya's father Abhiram Mohapatra had met DGP Abhay on Monday and demanded polygraph test of his daughter-in-law Bidya Bharati, DFO Sangram Behera and cook Manmath Kambha. The trio has been named in the FIR based on which a murder case has been registered.