Bhubaneswar, Sept 21: The bodies of seven members of the family of Banamali Behera, a resident of Atmaram Basti in Jayadev Vihar, who died after being swept away in a rain-swollen drain in Madhya Pradesh, reached Bhubaneswar around 1:30 am on Sunday.
Four senior officials of the Revenue Department from Agar-Malwa district, along with a police team, accompanied the bodies in three ambulances to Odisha.
As news of the arrival spread, hundreds of people gathered outside Banamali’s residence and at Jayadev Vihar Square to pay their last respects. Relatives had prepared seven biers outside the house, while the atmosphere turned emotional as family members and neighbours gathered to mourn the tragedy.
After the bodies reached the settlement around 1:30 am, the entire area was filled with grief. The large crowd initially posed a challenge for the police, following which Police Commissioner S Devadatta Singh and other senior officers reached the spot and helped manage the situation.
The bodies were later taken in three hearse vehicles from Jayadev Vihar to Gadakana, the family’s ancestral locality, where relatives and residents paid their final respects. The seven bodies were subsequently taken to Puri’s Swargadwar, where the last rites were performed together.
Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan, MLA Babu Singh, Ananta Narayan Jena, Sushant Rout, former minister Ashok Panda, BJP leaders Priyadarshi Mishra and Jagannath Pradhan, among others, visited Atmaram Basti and expressed condolences to the bereaved family.
Former PCC president Niranjan Patnaik also expressed deep grief over the tragedy. He appealed to the family not to discontinue the education of Banamali Behera’s only daughter, Rozalin, who is a Plus II student at Biju Patnaik College. Patnaik assured that he would bear her educational expenses.
The seven-member family had lost their lives in Madhya Pradesh after their vehicle was swept away by a rain-swollen drain near Nalkheda in Agar-Malwa district while they were returning from a visit to the Maa Baglamukhi Temple.
