An emigration scam with unintended terror links may have pushed IAS officer Jagadananda Panda over the edge, reports Ajit Nayak
Residents of Deogoan village, Bargarh district, Orissa are
in a state of deep shock. They were startled out of their sleep hours before dawn on July 31 to find senior IAS officer Jagadananda Panda, 54, and five of his family members lying in a pool of blood.
Although the local police have concluded it was Panda himself who shot five members of his family before taking his own life, the reasons behind the extreme step are shrouded in mystery.
Panda, from the IAS batch of 1983, was protocol-general of emigration in the overseas department of the ministry of external affairs. He had arrived in the village, about 300 km from Bhubaneswar, a couple of days earlier with his wife, Surekha, and only son, Swapnesh, 22.
He had been told to proceed on leave after CBI sleuths raided his houses in Delhi and his native village on July 22. Panda, an Orissa cadre officer on deputation in Delhi, was suspected to be involved in an emigration scam.
In a suicide note the police found at the spot, Panda asserted he was innocent and lamented he had been “betrayed” by his “simplicity”. He, however, named no individual or agency that might have caused him distress; nor did he mention what it was exactly that he was running away from.
On July 31, the Deogoan villagers rushed six profusely bleeding members of the Panda family — the officer himself, his wife, son, octogenarian father and two middle-aged sisters — to a nearby nursing home where the four were declared brought dead. Panda, who was still alive, and his son were taken to the VSS Medical College Hospital in Burla. The IAS officer breathed his last there.
Swapnesh, in a coma, was airlifted to Kalinga Hospital, Bhubaneswar. At the time of going to press, the young man with a bullet wound in his head was in a critical condition.
On the fateful evening, Panda was reportedly in a jovial mood. He went shopping with his wife and visited several relatives in Bargarh town. None of them had any forewarning. Those who knew Panda are baffled at the cold-blooded manner in which he eliminated the people closest to him. Was the tainted IAS officer trying to shield his family from a truth that would have shattered them?
Questions are being raised about the ramifications of the emigration scam. Had Panda, wittingly or unwittingly, compromised the security interests of the nation as a result of the ‘illegal’ emigrations his office facilitated?
It is believed the CBI and the IB were on the trail of a gang engaged in securing Indian passports for illegal Bangladeshi migrants who were smuggled into Europe via the Middle East. Some of these migrants, who were aided indirectly by the emigration scam, had spent time in ISI-run terror camps in Pakistan before entering India. The case was getting too hot for Panda and he probably feared it was only a matter of time before he would be implicated for ‘links’ with terrorists.
Though the CBI did not find any hard evidence against Panda, he was asked to go on leave for three months. The raids on his Delhi residence had yielded Rs 10 lakh in cash and documents of property worth Rs 2.17 crore.
Residents of Deogoan village, Bargarh district, Orissa are
in a state of deep shock. They were startled out of their sleep hours before dawn on July 31 to find senior IAS officer Jagadananda Panda, 54, and five of his family members lying in a pool of blood.Although the local police have concluded it was Panda himself who shot five members of his family before taking his own life, the reasons behind the extreme step are shrouded in mystery.
Panda, from the IAS batch of 1983, was protocol-general of emigration in the overseas department of the ministry of external affairs. He had arrived in the village, about 300 km from Bhubaneswar, a couple of days earlier with his wife, Surekha, and only son, Swapnesh, 22.
He had been told to proceed on leave after CBI sleuths raided his houses in Delhi and his native village on July 22. Panda, an Orissa cadre officer on deputation in Delhi, was suspected to be involved in an emigration scam.
In a suicide note the police found at the spot, Panda asserted he was innocent and lamented he had been “betrayed” by his “simplicity”. He, however, named no individual or agency that might have caused him distress; nor did he mention what it was exactly that he was running away from.
On July 31, the Deogoan villagers rushed six profusely bleeding members of the Panda family — the officer himself, his wife, son, octogenarian father and two middle-aged sisters — to a nearby nursing home where the four were declared brought dead. Panda, who was still alive, and his son were taken to the VSS Medical College Hospital in Burla. The IAS officer breathed his last there.
Swapnesh, in a coma, was airlifted to Kalinga Hospital, Bhubaneswar. At the time of going to press, the young man with a bullet wound in his head was in a critical condition.
On the fateful evening, Panda was reportedly in a jovial mood. He went shopping with his wife and visited several relatives in Bargarh town. None of them had any forewarning. Those who knew Panda are baffled at the cold-blooded manner in which he eliminated the people closest to him. Was the tainted IAS officer trying to shield his family from a truth that would have shattered them?
Questions are being raised about the ramifications of the emigration scam. Had Panda, wittingly or unwittingly, compromised the security interests of the nation as a result of the ‘illegal’ emigrations his office facilitated?
It is believed the CBI and the IB were on the trail of a gang engaged in securing Indian passports for illegal Bangladeshi migrants who were smuggled into Europe via the Middle East. Some of these migrants, who were aided indirectly by the emigration scam, had spent time in ISI-run terror camps in Pakistan before entering India. The case was getting too hot for Panda and he probably feared it was only a matter of time before he would be implicated for ‘links’ with terrorists.
Though the CBI did not find any hard evidence against Panda, he was asked to go on leave for three months. The raids on his Delhi residence had yielded Rs 10 lakh in cash and documents of property worth Rs 2.17 crore.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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