Kendrapara, June 6: A 27-year-old youth was found hanging inside the Kendrapara Collectorate premises on Saturday, triggering allegations of administrative harassment over a land dispute. The deceased has been identified as Srichandan Das alias Kalia, son of Bharat Das of Basulai village in Kendrapara town.
According to police, Kalia allegedly hanged himself using a gamucha from the railing of a staircase leading to the first floor of the Collectorate building. His body was later recovered and sent to the District Headquarters Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Senior BJP leader and former Kendrapara Zilla Parishad chairperson Geetanjali Sethi alleged that Kalia was driven to suicide after being repeatedly denied justice in a land-related dispute and facing harassment from government officials.
Locals said Kalia, a native of Rayatunda village under Benipur Panchayat in Derabish block, had been making frequent visits to administrative offices seeking resolution of a land matter. He had reportedly visited the office again on Saturday but left disappointed after failing to get relief.
The incident came to light after office employees spotted him hanging from the steel railing around 3 pm and alerted the police.
Police have registered an unnatural death case and launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Kendrapara Collector Raghuram R. Iyer said that if any administrative officials are found responsible, they would also be brought under the ambit of the investigation.
Later in the evening, the deceased's father lodged a complaint with the police, demanding a thorough probe into his son's death and seeking to ascertain whether any individual was responsible for the tragedy.
