Agriculture Secretary Rajesh Verma reached here and held a meeting with high-level officials, including district Collector Sashi Bhusan Padhi and SP Rajesh Pandit, on the Itishree Pradhan murder case.
After the two- hour close door meeting, Verma told mediapersons that he had been in Rayagada in connection with an administrative inquiry into the killing of the woman teacher.
It may be reminded that, adjudicating over a petition seeking CBI inquiry into Itishree Pradhan murder case recently, the Supreme Court had ordered an administrative probe. Pradhan, a Shiksa Sahayak (SS) in the Tikiri Primary School in Kashipur block, was set afire on October 27 last year by some miscreants. After battling for life for over a month, she succumbed to the grievous burns at a hospital in Visakhapatnam on November 1, 2013. Though Itishree had appealed to the district administration at various levels seeking protection, none had come to her rescue. She had lodged complaints against her school head master, who later was promoted to SI, for meting out sexual torture to her.
To quell the public outcry over the death of Pradhan and the apathy shown to the victim, the State Government had suspended main accused Netrananda Dandasena. He is now languishing in a jail. The others like DI of Schools, Tikiri Police SI and a constable including Dandasena were dismissed from job as well for dereliction of duty and other charges. However, by doing this, the officers at the upper hierarchy such as the district Collector and the SP had escaped action.