Orissa HC stays NBW against IAS Manish Agarwal in suspicious death case of his PA

The Orissa High Court has issued a stay on the non-bailable warrant issued against Manish Agarwal, former Collector of the Malkangiri district. This decision by the court comes following Agarwal's repeated failure to attend an SDJM court summons in a case linked to the mysterious death of his personal assistant in 2019.

Background of the Incident

Deba Narayan Panda, who was serving as Agarwal's personal assistant, went missing on 27 December 2019 while at work. His body was tragically discovered the next day at the Satiguda dam site by fire service personnel. The post-mortem report attributed his death to drowning, ruling out any visible injury or signs of violence.

However, Panda's wife approached the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court and claimed her husband was last seen going to the residence of the Collector on the day of his disappearance, suggesting possible culpability of Agarwal in her husband's untimely demise. The SDJM consequently ordered the police to register a First Information Report (FIR) to investigate under Section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Investigation and Court Proceedings

The police's investigation found no evidence of foul play, exonerating Agarwal of any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Panda filed a protest petition, alleging that the investigation was inadequate and deliberately exonerated the former Collector.

The SDJM, upon hearing Panda's statement and considering further evidence, decided to proceed with the case. In January 2023, following depositions by four witnesses supporting the complainant, the SDJM issued summons for Agarwal to appear in court. Rejecting this summons, Agarwal and others filed a petition with the High Court to nullify the legal notices.

Court’s order:

After hearing the parties, the single bench of Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi deemed it apposite to issue notice and to grant an interim stay on the operation of the NBW order till the next date of listing.

The matter has now been listed on March 5 2025 for a final hearing.