Sagar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: In an incident straight out of the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not series, the Khurda police registered a case of culpable homicide March 13 in which the complainant is the same as the person who had died in the incident.
At 4 pm March 13, Manoranjan Behera lodged a complaint with the police alleging that a container vehicle bearing number WB 23D 4363 hit his motorcycle, OR 05 AH 9618, because of negligent driving, said the FIR, a copy of which is with
The FIR was registered under section 304 (a) (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash driving) of IPC against the container truck driver.
Behera (40), a High Court lawyer, had allegedly been hit by the truck near Barunei flyover on NH-16 in Khurda at 11 am March 12 while he was on his bike. Behera was rushed to Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack by a police patrolling team and then referred to SCB Medical College.
At 2:30 pm, Manoranjan’s father Ram Krishna Behera of Ganjam, received a call from SCB informing him about his son’s death. The caller also asked whether he would like to donate Manoranjan’s eyes and kidneys.
Ram Krishna, a retired police officer, told Orissa POST that he did not give his consent and instead asked the hospital to wait for the family to arrive.
Manas Behera, the deceased’s brother and a constable working with Chhatarpur police, said they found Manoranjan’s body wrapped in a polythene bag when they reached SCB.
“The lawyers of the High Court Bar Association were taking the body away in a van. When we tore open the polythene cover, we found that my brother’s eyes and kidneys had been extracted,” said Manas.
Manoranjan’s family members claim that the inquest was conducted without their knowledge and the body was not handed over to them after post mortem. His mother, Sashikala Behera, filed a complaint with Markatnagar police the same day stating that bar association lawyers had misbehaved with her when she demanded her son’s body at the hospital.
The family members were in for a further shock. When they attempted to lodge a complaint with Khurda police alleging that Manoranjan was murdered, they were given a copy of an FIR that had already been registered in connection with the incident. The FIR dated March 13 had Manoranjan’s name as the complainant.
In a sharp contrast to the FIR, the body releasing certificate of Manoranjan, issued by the department of forensic medicine of SCB Medical College, mentioned the date on which the body was given away by the hospital as March 12 and was signed by doctor PK Nayak.
Khurda SP DK Das said Manoranjan’s friend Priyabrat Mohanty had already lodged a complaint and thus the police registered his FIR first. The SP said he will order a probe into how the FIR showed the deceased himself as the complainant instead of Mohanty.
Manas said his brother’s body was taken to the home of a widow whose case Manoranjan was handling. He said his brother was helping the widow get her late husband’s pension released.
The woman received a compensation of Rs 1 lakh from the High Court Bar last week while posing as Manoranjan’s wife, Manas said. The family members said the woman murdered Manoranjan to get benefits of the bar welfare money and also to take the insurance that would be paid out on his death. The lawyers have connived with the woman to take this money, Manas alleged.
Priyabrat Mohanty, the lawyer who had reported Manoranjan’s death to Khurda police, said he did not have anything to do with misappropriating Manoranjan’s money and lodged FIR as he was a friend and colleague.
Mohanty also claimed that the woman is Manoranjan’s wife and had a marriage certificate to this effect. Manas, however, contended that the woman had not submitted any marriage certificate to the bar while claiming the welfare money.
Manoranjan’s family members said they have already gone to the Chief Minister’s grievance cell, the Khurda superintendent of police and the advocate general. However, their FIR has not yet been registered, they said.