BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Police have changed the enquiry officer and supervisory officer probing the mysterious death of a 22-year-old youth, who was working as a cook at the residence of slain BJD leader Naba Das in Jharsuguda.
The development comes after the deceased Lalit Kumar Sahu’s father Belarsan Sahu wrote a letter to the police last month requesting reinvestigation of the case. Lalit was found dead at staff quarters on April 17, 2022. Just a few months after Lalit’s death, Naba Das was shot dead by an on-duty police officer on January 29, 2023.
Jharsuguda police had then indicated that it was a case of suicide and registered a case of unnatural death. Lalit’s postmortem was allegedly carried out hurriedly in the same evening and his body was taken to his hometown in Dhenkanal district within a few hours.
The case became murkier when the deceased’s viscera samples were allegedly stolen from the postmortem room in December that year. Jharsuguda Town police registered another case in this regard on January 5, 2023. However, so far, there has been no headway in both the cases and their investigation is still open, said sources.
Initially, the case was investigated by a sub-inspector under the supervision of a DSP. “After receiving a grievance from the victim’s father, I directed the police to reinvestigate the case by changing the enquiry and supervisory officers,” said Northern Range IG, Himanshu Kumar Lal.
An inspector rank officer will now probe the case under the supervision of an additional SP.