Paralakhemundi: While the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Branch has intensified its probe into the financial and land deals of Ananga Manjari Patra, the former manager of Parala Maharaja Pratisthan, the statement of the Gajapati SP that Maharaja Gopinath Gajapati Narayan Deb had sought police protection sensing threat to his life and property, has given a new twist to the entire incident.
“There is no evidence that the Parala Maharaja was under house arrest. In a letter to the then Gajapati SP on December 29, 2015, the Gajapati Maharaja had sought police protection citing a threat to his life. Acting on the letter, six armed APR constables were deployed in the royal palace on January 4 this year to provide protection to the Maharaja and his family members,” Gajapati SP Sushil Kumar Panigrahi told media persons here today.
Sources said the Crime Branch is waiting for the reply of the Gajapati Maharaja, who is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital in Chennai.
Meanwhile, a three-member SIT team of the Crime Branch went to the State Bank of India (SBI) branch here and verified the bank accounts of Ananga Manjari, his brother and personal assistant of the Maharaja, Sanjay Patra and the Parala king. The team also collected the account statement of Ananga and Sanjay from the bank officials. During the verification, the team came to know that there was no large amounts deposited in the accounts of Ananga and Sanjay.
The team later went to the tehsil office to verify the land deals of the king and found that no land deal has been made in the last 8-10 years.
Another team of the SIT went to the Forensic Medicine & Toxicology (FMT) department of MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur and collected the post mortem report of Ananga Manjari, Sanjay Patra, sister Bijaylaxmi Patra and Tulu Patra.
Talking to media persons, Prof Sachi Mohanty, Head of the FMT department, said as per the post mortem report, the death of Ananga Manjari Patra, Bijaylaxmi Patra and Tulu Patra was due to poisoning while the death of Sanjay Patra was due to asphyxiation.
“We will conduct the viscera test of Ananga Manjari, Bijaylaxmi and Tulu to find out which poison they had consumed,” he added.