Cuttack, Aug. 22: Orissa High Court has ordered stay on trial proceedings in the murder case of Anupama Behera, a judicial officer posted in Balasore.
The high court has issued the interim stay order in response to a petition filed by the accused.
Anupama, 32, who was a process inspector in Balasore, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at her residence on March 15. She was expected to join as a sub-judge in Koraput on March 25, following her promotion and transfer.
On March 17, police arrested Jyotiranjan Mohanty, 39, and his brother Priyaranjan, 32, of Nayagarh and named them accused in the murder case.
The trial in the murder case was scheduled to be held from September 2 in the Court of the District & Sessions Judge, Balasore.
Both the accused — Jyotiranjan and Priyaranjan — had filed petitions seeking the court’s direction to shift the case to a trial court in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack or any other district. The petitioners expressed apprehensions about fair and impartial trial in Balasore.
“The single judge bench of Justice B.K. Patel, before whom the petition came up yesterday, posted the matter for hearing to August 30 and issued an interim stay order on the trial proceedings,” petitioners’ counsel Jayadev Behera told The Telegraph today.
“Justice Patel further issued notice to the husband of deceased judicial officer and the state government to file their responses by then,” Behera said. Sukanta Kumar Jena, a gynaecologist working in Nayagarh, was Anupama’s husband.
“Our basic contention is that fair and impartial trial in the murder case cannot be made in Balasore as Anupama was a judicial officer there and all the colleagues were present, when her body was found at her residence,” the petitioners’ counsel said.