Maheshwar Mahapatra, 56, principal of Saranakul Mahavidyalaya, died of a suspected heart attack on Thursday while travelling by train from Bhubaneswar toward Nayagarh, officials and local reports said. His body was discovered at Daspalla railway station after the train had passed his intended stop.
Mahapatra had served as principal of the college, under Odagaon block, for the past three years. Though his family home is in Rabara village under Odagaon police station, he lived in Nayagarh’s College Lane. On Wednesday he had gone to Bhubaneswar to meet his daughter. There he finalised plans for her wedding, scheduled for 26 January, in discussions with the prospective in-laws. He also visited them because one of them was unwell, and confirmed the date. After spending a day with his son and daughter, he boarded a train on Thursday to return to Nayagarh.
According to accounts of the incident, he suffered a heart attack inside the coach and died before anyone realised. He did not get down at Nayagarh station and the train continued to Daspalla. After all passengers had left, a sweeper who entered the coach to clean it found him and alerted station staff. With help from Government Railway Police, he was taken to the Daspalla community health centre.
Doctors have indicated that the exact cause of death will be established only after the post-mortem examination. News of the principal’s death has cast a pall of grief over the college and the wider Saranakul area, with hundreds of students, staff members and local residents mourning the sudden loss.
