CM Mohan Majhi orders fresh probe into panchayat officer’s death

BHUBANESWAR/JAJPUR: Five years after the mysterious death of a panchayat officer Smitarani Biswal In Jajpur district, chief minister Mohan Majhi announced Sunday a new investigation in her death, accusing the previous BJD government of killing her.
Biswal’s body was found hanging from the ceiling of a guest house run by the husband of a former local sarpanch on October 16, 2019, sparking widespread public outrage.

“Panchayat Extension Officer (PEO) Smitarani Biswal was discharging her duties. Some BJD leaders made her work for them and then killed her. Her husband met me a few days ago and asked me to reopen the investigation into his death Our government will reopen the case and give him justice,” Majhi said while addressing a rally during the party’s membership drive in Barchana. , in Jajpur district.
Responding to Majhi’s statement, BJD Rajya Sabha member Sulata Deo said, “The CM is lying. His accusations are not based on facts. The Naveen Patnaik government has never covered up any crime. The Naveen government has prioritized women empowerment and development in the state.
Majhi, who criticized the previous BJD government for neglecting Jajpur for 24 years and blamed it for the deaths of several children due to malnutrition in Nagada in 2016, said his government would not spare those involved in Biswal’s alleged murder.
Recently, a delegation of BJP leaders from Jajpur met Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan and sought his intervention for a fresh probe into Biswal’s death.
Her husband then claimed that she had been raped and murdered at the guest house. The BJP, which was then the main opposition party in Odisha, had raised the issue in the assembly and demanded a CBI probe into the incident.
The previous BJD government, citing an autopsy report, had claimed that Biswal died suicide. Naveen had also severely criticized the BJP for politicizing the woman’s death.
Following a state-wide scandal, the police had subsequently arrested the former sarpanch’s husband in an alleged abetment to suicide case.