Former judge of Odisha High Court, former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court Justice and former Chairman of the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) Radha Krushna Patra passed away on Wednesday morning while undergoing treatment for pneumonia here at the SCB Medical College Hospital. He was heading the State Government-appointed one-man Judicial Commission set up in July 2013 to probe into the multi-crore chit fund scam.

Justice Patra was 72 and is survived by wife laxmi and daughter Gayatri. The mortal remains of Justice Patra were consigned to flames at the Swargadwar at Puri in the afternoon where his nephew Prasant Bhupati lit the funeral pyre in presence of hundreds of mourners. He was suddenly taken ill last week and was admitted in the hospital on January 24.

Soon after his death, his body was taken to his Cantonment Road residence, where hundreds of people including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Chief Justice Amitava Roy, many sitting and former judges of the High Court and DGP Sanjeev Marik paid their last respects to the departed soul. In his condolence message, the Chief Minister said, “We are deeply distressed by the sad demise of Justice Patra, who was a leading legal luminary of the State.” Chief Justice Roy described Justice Patra as a self-made man, who, having a humble beginning, went on to achieve great heights.

Many lawyers’ bodies, including the Bar Council of Odisha, High Court Bar Association and All Odisha lawyers’ Association also expressed their deepest condolences to Justice Patra, who was highly respected by the legal fraternity for his notable contributions to legal profession.