CB Charges Bidyabharati With Negligent Conduct On ACF's Death
CB Charges Bidyabharati With Negligent Conduct On ACF's Death
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Cuttack: The Crime Branch mentioned Bidyabharati Panda in the charge-sheet it had filed to the court on Friday night, just hours after handing the Paralakhemundi DFO and the cook a clean chit in connection with the killing of ACF Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra.
On Saturday, Crime Branch ADG Sanjeeb Panda told the media that CB DSP Gyana Ranjan Mishra had filed a 300-page charge-sheet with the court.
Bidyabharati has been charged under the IPC Sections 285 (Negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible stuff) and 304-A (Causing death by negligence), according to the Crime Branch ADG.
The charge-sheet has been framed on the basis of 81 witnesses' statements, the polygraph test of the DFO Sangram Keshari Behera, cook Manmath Kumbha, and Bidyabharati, according to the ADG. Bidyabharati has been served a notice under Section 41 of the CrPC (any police officer may without an order from a magistrate and without a warrant, arrest any person).
The ADG, on the other hand, dodged a question about whether the Crime Branch identified Bidyabharati as the main suspect. "The charge-sheet was crafted based on the evidence discovered during the inquiry," he continued.
In response to the Crime Branch's charge sheet, Parthasarathi Nayak, counsel for the ACF's family members, stated that the court would not be able to record the conviction based on the two sections of the IPC (Section 304 (a): causing the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide and Section 285: Negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) on which the Crime Branch has submitted the charge sheet.
"I am confident that the Magistrate will be dissatisfied if he thoroughly examines the charge-sheet. Apart from that, the Magistrate is not obligated to accept the police report, and he has the authority to order the police to perform additional investigation,” Nayak explained.
He went on to say that Soumya Ranjan's father has decided to submit a protest petition in court, requesting that the accused and two others (the DFO and the cook) be charged with more serious offences.
"Moreover, the ACF's father has already filed a writ case in the High Court seeking a CBI investigation into his son's death in protest of the Crime Branch's biassed and superficial investigation," he added.
