Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has directed the suspension of Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Sangram Keshari Behera, an accused in the Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra death case.

Behera is currently serving as Director (Commercial) of the Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC). The Chief Minister's direction comes days after the senior forest officer surrendered before a court in connection with the case and was remanded to judicial custody.

On July 27, Behera, the former Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Gajapati, surrendered before the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Court in Paralakhemundi through his counsel. He sought bail before the SDJM Court, but his application was rejected. He later moved the District and Sessions Court for bail, which also turned down his plea, following which he was sent to jail.

Before his current posting at OFDC, Behera served as the Principal of the Forest Ranger College in Angul from January 2023 to April 2026. He was appointed Director (Commercial) of OFDC in May this year.

The case relates to the death of Assistant Conservator of Forests Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra, who sustained severe burn injuries at his official residence in Paralakhemundi on July 12, 2021. He was shifted to a private hospital in Cuttack, where he died the following day.

On July 14, 2021, Soumya Ranjan's family filed a complaint alleging that he had been murdered. The complaint named then Gajapati DFO Sangram Keshari Behera, Soumya Ranjan's wife Bidya Bharati, and cook Manmath Kumbha as accused.

Considering the seriousness of the allegations, the Odisha government handed over the investigation to the Crime Branch on August 14, 2021.