Brahmapur: Former BJD MLA Bikram Kumar Panda was released from Brahmapur jail Tuesday, a day after the Orissa High Court granted him bail in the murder case of advocate and former Odisha State Bar Council member Pitabash Panda.
Pitabash Panda was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while returning home from his chambers October 6, 2025. He was taken to MKCG Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Bikram Panda, the former MLA from the Brahmapur constituency, had been in judicial custody for more than 10 months. He was arrested around 3:30 a.m. October 22, 2025, after police alleged that their investigation had uncovered a “multi-layered conspiracy to kill the advocate”.
The Orissa High Court, while granting bail Monday, found “prima facie flaws” in the arrest procedure. Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra noted that the police had “failed to establish that written grounds of arrest were communicated to Panda”.
The court observed that the “Grounds of Arrest” column in the arrest memo merely stated, “In the strength of above noted case”, which it found insufficient.
The High Court imposed conditions on his release, including that he must not influence prosecution witnesses or terrorise the deceased’s family.