HC asks for records on officer’s death

Cuttack: Orissa high court has asked for case records regarding the unnatural death of assistant collector Susmita Minj, whose body was found floating in a pond in Sensory Park, Rourkela, on Sept 19, 2023.
The single judge bench of V Narasingh sought the case records while considering on Tuesday a petition seeking a direction for a CID-Crime Branch investigation into the unnatural death.
Susmita’s brother, Sandeep Minj, filed the petition through advocate Shivsankar Mohanty, alleging that police have neither registered an FIR nor properly investigated his complaint, even though over eight months have passed since her death. Justice Narasingh has posted the matter to Aug 8 for hearing along with case records.Susmita’s body was found floating in the pond after she went missing for nearly four days. The post- mortem report concluded that she died due to drowning.
After Susmita’s family members claimed that she was murdered, the SP (Rourkela) ordered a police probe into the unnatural death by a DSP-rank officer on Sept 28.