BHUBANESWAR: In a significant development, the Crime Branch (CB) has served notices to nine persons, including Paralakhemundi MLA K Surya Rao, in connection with the suicides of royal palace manager Ananga Manjari Patra and her three siblings.
The local political leaders of BJD and BJP have also been issued notices apart from a news channel. The nine names were figured in the suicide notes of Ananga Manjari and in the FIR filed by her brother Amulya.
Sources in the Crime Branch said the nine will be examined and questioned during a three-day period beginning Monday.
After the Crime Branch found handwriting match on the suicide notes of Ananga Manjari, it was only a matter of time before the probe agency examined those whose names figured in the investigation process. On August 19, Ananga and her two siblings, Bijaylaxmi and Sanjay, were found dead in their Jangam Street house in Paralakhemundi.
Another brother Santosh succumbed at MKCG Hospital in Berhampur. In the notes, the palace manager stated that the family was anguished over accusations that they had confined the royal scion Gopinath Gajapati Narayan Deo at the palace and misappropriated the assets.