Members of the inquiry team at the MKCG Medical College and Hospital. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, March 15: A team led by the director of medical education and training (DMET), Orissa, Prasanna Kumar Das, and accompanied by the additional health secretary P.K. Patnaik and additional director B.K. Panda, yesterday inquired into the suspension of associate professor Siba Prasad Das of the surgery department.

The three-member team visited Berhampur and interrogated different persons yesterday. “We met a professor of anaesthesia department, professor of surgery department Rasanand Mangual, suspended associate professor Siba Prasad Das of the surgery department, assistant surgeon Kuresh Prasad Das, hospital superintendent Jogendra Prasad Behera and some staff nurse who were on duty during last December. We would submit the report to the state government,” said a member of the team.

The members of the inquiry team reached the hospital at 11am and continued with their work till evening. “The investigation is on. We cannot divulge any details about it right now,” Prasanna Kumar Das said.

Associate professor Siba Prasad was placed under suspension after stray dogs mauled the dead body of farmer Raghunath Behera (60) of Mahanadpur village under Chatrapur block in Ganjam district at the balcony of the M.K.C.G. Medical College and Hospital on December 18 last year. The peasant died following a suicide attempt because of crop loss.

Siba Prasad Das, however, said: “I am a surgeon on call. I would attend a patient in case of an emergency. How I am responsible if dogs maul a dead body? I hope the investigation team will do justice to me,” he said.