Bhubaneswar (The Hawk): According to a police officer, Gobinda Sahu, the main accused in the high-profile murder of female teacher Mamita Meher in 2021, allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday in the Kantabanji sub-jail in the Balangir district.
"The jailer called to inform me that Gobinda Sahu had made an attempt on his life. The doctor pronounced Sahu brought dead when they arrived to the hospital, "Subhakanta Mishra, DIG (Prisons), added.
According to Mishra, the DIG of Sambalpur has been requested to undertake an investigation and submit a report within 24 hours.
"On Tuesday, the main suspect in the Mamita Meher murder case was scheduled to appear in court. We learned that Sahu had committed suicide as the escort team was leaving for the sub-jail "Sambalpur's DIG, Deepak Kumar, spoke to the media.
According to the norms set forth by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Supreme Court, a thorough investigation will be carried out into the situation, Kumar stated.
In the meantime, Sahu's death is being investigated by the Crime Branch, per Odisha DGP Sunil Bansal.
Sahu's post-mortem will be videotaped, according to Kumar, and the NHRC will be notified about the suicide within 24 hours.
A four-person team headed by DSP Bijay Mallick has departed for Kantabanji to take up the case's investigation per the DGP's instructions. According to sources, forensic specialists will support the inquiry.
Susama, Sahu's wife, said that her husband had been slain in the meantime.
"He had a robust mental capacity. If he had intended to end his life, he would have done it much sooner rather than more than a year later. It was a planned killing, "She asserted.
Susama also urged that the CBI conduct an investigation into the death of her husband, holding the jail management accountable.
She has complained about this to the Kegaon police station.
The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has ordered the Special DG of Prisons and Bolangir SP to submit a report within 15 days after taking suo-motu cognizance of the case.
The reported suicide of Sahu in jail has drawn criticism from the BJP and Congress, two opposition parties.
The Congress wanted a fair or judicial investigation to determine why Sahu committed suicide, while the BJP called for a CBI investigation.
Mamita Meher was a teacher at an English-medium school in Mahaling, Kalahandi district, and she was a native of Turekela block in Bolangir district. Her disappearance occurred on October 8, 2021. Her decomposing body was discovered by the authorities on October 19, 2021, inside a stadium that was still being built in Mahaling. She supposedly died after being strangled by Sahu, the school's promoter.
The assassination had caused a great deal of political controversy because Sahu's close friend and former Minister of State for Home, Dibya Shankar Mishra, was accused by the opposition parties of being engaged in the killing.
(Inputs from Agencies)
