Pradeep Singh

A day after the post-mortem report of deceased Paralakhemundi Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra stated that the officer had succumbed to burn injuries, a PIL has been filed in Orissa High Court today seeking CBI investigation into the case.

The Bharat Vikas Parishad, a social organisation, on Tuesday moved the Orissa High Court seeking probe into the mysterious death of the Odisha Forest Service (OFS) officer by the Central agency, while making the Union Home Secretary, State Chief Secretary, State Home Secretary, State Director General of Police (DGP) as well as the Gajapati SP and Paralakhemundi Police Station IIC as respondents.

As per reports, many suspect that the ACF has been done to death and a detailed investigation is needed to bring the culprits to book. Besides, the police giving clean chit to a few officers accused in the case (by the family members of the deceased officer) in a hurried manner had not gone down well with some people, especially the family members of the deceased.

The post-mortem report of the deceased ACF which was released on Monday stated that the young OFS officer had died of burn injuries. However, the family members of the ACF have disputed the claims alleging foul play in the death of Soumya Ranjan.

It is pertinent to mention here that based on an online complaint by the family members od Soumya, a murder case was earlier filed against three persons including the deceased's widow Bidyabharati Panda, while the two others named in the FIR were that of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sangram Behera and the late ACF's cook.

However, last week, the DFO was given a clean chit in the case by the SP stating that the former had no role to play in the death of the ACF.

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