The Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Northern Range), Sangram Keshari Mohapatra, investigating the disturbing incident in Odisha’s Keonjhar district, revealed that bank officials may have been negligent. Mohapatra, who began the probe by visiting the residence of Jitu Munda and the bank involved, stated that due to the absence of audio recordings, the exact interaction between the man and the officials remains unclear.
According to Mohapatra, the deceased Kalara Munda and her brother Jitu Munda were frequent visitors to the bank, with money withdrawn from her account multiple times. Despite the familiarity between the siblings and the bank staff, the death certificate for Kalara Munda, who passed away in February, was not issued to her brother in a timely manner. Mohapatra assured that strict action would be taken against those responsible for the negligence that led to the distressing situation of exhuming the sister’s remains for a withdrawal of Rs 19,300.
The incident, which sparked national outrage and social media condemnation, prompted Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to order an RDC-level investigation. The matter also caused chaos in the Odisha Assembly during a special session, with the opposition parties criticizing the state’s reputation being tarnished at both national and international levels.
