Non-bailable warrant issued against former Malkangiri DC

A court in Odisha’s Malkangiri district has issued a non-bailable warrant against IAS officer Manish Agarwal for not appearing before it in connection with the death of his personal assistant during his tenure as the district collector in 2019. Malkangiri Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court has issued the warrant against the officer while hearing a case relating to the death of Deba Narayan Panda. He died in mysterious circumstances while serving as the personal assistant of the former Malkangiri district collector.The SDJM court also issued the NBW against three others, V Venu (then data-entry operator), Prakash Swain (then stenographer) and Bhagawan Panigrahi (then Odisha Revenue Service officer), who are the other accused in the case.
Debnarayan Panda went missing from his office on December 27, 2019 and his body was recovered from Satiguda dam in Malkangiri on the following day under mysterious circumstances. While probing the case, police initially registered a suicide case and later an unnatural death case over Panda’s death. However, his wife alleged that he might have been murdered and filed a case at the Malkangiri SDJM pointing fingers at the then collector Manish Agarwal and three other staff. Based on the complaint, a murder FIR was lodged against Agrawal and three others and the State Crime Branch launched probe into the incident and following the direction of the court the four accused were booked under sections 302,506, 201, 204, 120 (B) and 34 of the IPC.
In its order passed on February 1, the judge said, “It is observed that by keeping in view the importance of the case record, I found the law is well settled that the accused can avail the benefit of dispensation of personal attendance but the same cannot be claimed as a right.” As per the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, the first appearance of an accused in a criminal case must be physical, the court observed. “So, the accused should first present himself before this court and then may seek exemption from personal attendance before the trial court which is the court of sessions,” the judge said.