Bidya Bharati Panda surrendered and was remanded after an Odisha court rejected her bail plea. The order places all three accused in the forest officer's alleged murder in judicial custody.Image used for representational purposes onlyBerhampur,Nov 2, 2026 21:40 ISTA court in Odisha on Monday remanded Bidya Bharati Panda, an accused in the alleged murder of her husband and forest officer Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra, to judicial custody until November 13, news agency Press Trust of India reported.Panda surrendered before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate's court after the Orissa High Court declined to grant her interim protection from arrest.
The court later rejected her bail application.“The court rejected her bail and sent her to judicial custody until November 13,” public prosecutor Rajesh Kumar Mishra told PTI.Mishra said all three people accused in connection with Mohapatra's death were now in judicial custody following Panda's surrender. Panda's advocate, Sisir Kumar Jena, said they would apply for bail in the district and sessions court in Paralakhemundi after receiving documents related to the rejection of her plea.The other accused, former divisional forest officer Sangram Keshari Behera and family cook Manmath Kumbh, were earlier sent to judicial custody after their bail applications were rejected.
Behera surrendered before the court on July 28, while police arrested Kumbh from his village, Karadasingh, on September 30. Police registered a case against Behera, Panda and Kumbh after Mohapatra's father, Abhiram Mohapatra, filed a first information report at Paralakhemundi police station on July 14, 2021, accusing them of being responsible for his son's death.Mohapatra, who was an assistant conservator of forests in Paralakhemundi, suffered burn injuries at his home in Odisha's Gajapati district on July 11, 2021.
He died the following day.His father alleged that the incident was murder and not an accident. He accused Behera and Kumbh of conspiring to kill his son and alleged that Panda had set him on fire.The Crime Branch initially investigated the case under Indian Penal Code provisions related to negligence involving fire and causing death by negligence.
The Paralakhemundi sub-divisional judicial magistrate later took cognisance of alleged offences of murder and criminal conspiracy following a complaint by Mohapatra's father.With Panda's bail plea rejected and her remand ordered until November 13, all three accused in the case are in judicial custody.- Ends