Bhubaneswar, April 30 The Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Northern Range), Sangram Keshari Mohapatra, who has been entrusted with investigating the shocking incident in Odisha's Keonjhar district -- where a man was allegedly forced to exhume his sister’s body and carry her skeletal remains to a bank for processing a death claim -- on Thursday said that the preliminary probe points towards negligence on the part of bank officials.
Mohapatra, who initiated the investigation on Thursday, visited the residence of Jitu Munda as well as the Malliposi branch of Odisha Grameen Bank in the morning and enquired into all details related to the incident that took place on April 27.
Speaking to the media, Mohapatra said: "At the preliminary level, bank officials appear to have committed negligence, and the man was denied service. Due to the absence of an audio recording facility at the bank, what exactly transpired between the tribal man and the bank officials cannot be ascertained. However, both the deceased Kalara Munda and her brother Jitu Munda had been regular visitors to the bank, and the officials were familiar with them. Money had been withdrawn from her account on around eight occasions."
The RDC (Northern Range) further informed that he would also examine why the death certificate of Kalara Munda, who died in February this year, was not issued to her brother Jitu Munda despite the passage of considerable time.
He added that stringent action would be taken against those found responsible for any negligence that allegedly forced Jitu Munda to exhume his sister’s body and carry her skeletal remains to the bank to withdraw Rs 19,300 deposited in her account.
The incident shocked the nation and drew widespread outrage on social media, with many people accusing the bank of inhumane treatment of the tribal man. Expressing concern over the development, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday ordered an RDC-level probe into the incident.
The issue also rocked the Odisha Assembly during the special session being held on Thursday, with the opposition Biju Janata Dal and Congress creating a massive ruckus inside the House. Raising the issue in the Assembly, Leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik said that it has severely tarnished the state’s image at the national and international levels.
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