The Orissa High Court has made changes to the charges against senior IAS officer Manish Agarwal in the case involving the mysterious death of his Personal Assistant (PA) Deba Narayan Panda in 2019.
The lower court had initially taken cognizance of murder charges against Agarwal and others, but the High Court has now replaced the murder charge with the charge of abetting suicide.
The incident occurred on December 27, 2019, when Panda, who served as Agarwal’s PA during his time as the Malkangiri collector, went missing. His body was discovered in the Satiguda Dam the following day. Initially, the police registered a case of suicide and unnatural death.
However, Panda’s wife accused the collector of murder, resulting in charges being filed under Sections 302 (murder), 506 (intimidation), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 204 (destruction of a document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Agarwal and the other accused challenged the lower court’s decision in the High Court, arguing that there was no evidence linking them to Panda’s death.
After examining the available evidence, Justice Sashikanta Mishra determined that there was no medical evidence or statements indicating a homicidal cause of death.
Nevertheless, the court acknowledged allegations of instigating the deceased to commit suicide through their behavior.
Considering this, the High Court modified the charges, dismissing the murder charge while maintaining the charges of abetment to suicide and criminal conspiracy against Agarwal and the other accused.
The court emphasized that the evidence presented during the trial would establish whether the accused’s actions amounted to instigation.
While modifying the charges, Justice Mishra directed the lower court to proceed with the case and aim to conclude the trial as quickly as possible, preferably within eight months.
