By Bizodisha Bureau in Bhubaneswar, February 18, 2015 :

The Odisha government on Wednesday ordered a Crime Branch probe into the death of Rayagada District Welfare Officer (DWO) Dhaneswar Prusty, who committed suicide inside his office room on Tuesday due to ‘harassment’ by the district collector Dr Sashi Bhusan Padhy and other senior officials.

“We have received a communication from the government about the Crime Branch investigation into alleged suicide by DWO Dhaneswar Prusty on Tuesday,” Rayagada superintendent of police (SP) K. Shiva Subramani said.

A suicide note was recovered by the scientific team which inspected Prusty’s house on Wednesday.

“In his suicide note, the late DWO has named the project assistant (PA), Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) and the collector for his death. We have sent it to the forensic laboratory to verify its genuineness,” Mr Subramani said.

The deceased’s wife Kamini Sahu, in her complaint lodged with the Rayagada Town Police Station on Monday, had alleged that her husband was in severe mental stress as he was being harassed by the collector Sashi Bhusan Padhy and the PA, ITDA, Gorachand Gamango,  at the review meetings.

She said as her husband was in a state of depression, she had approached the district collector Sashi Bhusan Padhy several times and asked him why such harassment was being meted out to a senior official.

“But there was no response from the collector,” she alleged.

The issued was on Wednesday morning raised in the Assembly. The Congress members created a ruckus in the House demanding immediate arrest of the Rayagada collector and PA, ITDA, who have been named in the first information report (FIR) lodged by Prusty’s wife.

They also demanded a statement on the issue from the chief minister.

Scores of Congress workers led by the president of the Rayagada District Congress Committee president Durga Prasad Panda on Wednesday gheraoed the Rayagada police station demanding immediate arrest of district collector and PA, ITDA.

“We will not relent until this corrupt collector is arrested and cases against him are registered. We will organise a bandh in Rayagada on Friday if he is not brought to the book arrested by then,” Rayagada district congress president Mr Panda said.