Malkangiri: The body of the personal assistant of Malkangiri district collector was fished out of a reservoir in Odisha Saturday, police said.
The body of Deb Narayan Panda, who was PA of district Collector Manish Agarwal, was recovered from the reservoir of Sitaguda Dam which is located seven kilometres from the District Collectorate, a police officer said.
Panda’s wife had lodged a missing complaint with the Malkangiri police station after he did not return home Friday night, he said.
Local residents found Panda’s motorbike, helmet and mobile phone near the dam, the officer said. Deb Narayan’s family members identified it as that of him. Later, fire personnel launched a rescue operation and fished out his body from the reservoir.
Police have sent it to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem.
“The cause of death can be ascertained after getting the postmortem report,” Additional Superintendent of Police, Udhav Charan Naik said while confirming that matter is already being investigated.
“My husband was depressed for the last three days but did not reveal anything. I suspect he was under severe work pressure. There was no disturbance in our family life,” Panda’s wife said.
District Collector Manish Agarwal was not available for comment. Several officials visited Panda’s residence after the news broke.
