Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has suspended a doctor of Brahmapur circle jail for allegedly facilitating a murder-accused’s conversation with a witness from prison, officials said Sunday.
Susanta Kumar Panigrahi, deployed as a special psychiatrist at Brahmapur circle jail, was suspended with immediate effect, as per an order issued by the state Health and Family Welfare Department Saturday.
During the suspension period, Panigrahi’s headquarters will be Brahmapur City Hospital and he will not leave headquarters without obtaining prior permission from the competent authority, the order said.
The government took this action against the doctor after Odisha police registered a fresh case against BJD leader and former Brahmapur MLA Bikram Kumar Panda, his close aide Madan Mohan Dalai and the jail doctor, a police officer said.
The case was registered for threatening a witness over the phone from prison, in connection with the murder of senior advocate Pitabash Panda, he said.
Bikram and Dalai allegedly threatened the witness on August 28 using the jail doctor’s mobile phone from his chamber inside the jail, the police said.
Notably, Panda along with 15 others were arrested in November 2025 for their alleged involvement in the murder of senior advocate Pitabash Panda, also an active member of the BJP in October last year. Panda was released from jail on September 1 after the state high court granted him bail.