The Pitabas Panda murder case witnessed a dramatic turn as police dropped murder charges against former MLA Bikram Panda in the final chargesheet.
Authorities filed charges against 14 accused, but excluded murder sections for several high-profile names.
Police identified Bikram Panda as the chief conspirator, yet applied BNS Section 111 for organised crime conspiracy instead of murder. Former Mayor Pintu alias Shibashankar Das, Malay Bishoyi, and Madan Dalei also saw murder charges removed.
The murder section BNS 103 now applies only to two shooters, Kurupati Bhuyan and Chintu Pradhan, who allegedly carried out the killing. This selective application of charges has raised fresh questions about the future of the case.
The police clarified that while conspiracy charges remain strong against Panda and others, direct murder charges are limited to those who executed the crime. The development has sparked debate over the legal strategy and the eventual outcome of the trial.
