Cuttack, Oct 8 (PTI) Forest officer Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra's death was "accidental" and his wife was not involved in it, the Odisha Police said on Friday, nearly three months after the incident rocked the state.

Mohapatra (30), who was posted as the Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) at Paralakhemundi in Gajapati district, was rescued with over 90 per cent burn injuries on July 12 from his official quarter. He succumbed to the injuries at a private hospital in Cuttack the next day.

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However, the police could not state how the fire broke out at the official quarter.

The State Crime Branch investigated the matter with a focus on his dying declaration and found the death was accidental, a senior police officer said.

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No one, even his wife Bidyabharati Panda who was present at the quarter when the fire broke out, was involved in the death, said Sanjeeb Panda, the Additional Director-General of Police (Crime Branch).

Discrediting the complaint made by Mohapatra's family, the police gave a clean chit to Bidyabharati, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sangram Keshari Behera and cook Manmath Kambha, saying the investigation, including polygraph tests, did not find their involvement.

The police officer also rejected the allegation that Bidyabharati and Behera were in a relationship and had hatched a plan to kill Mohapatra, who reportedly had exposed corruptions by the DFO.

"The couple shared a bitter marital relationship," the police officer said.

Although Bidyabharati was present at the spot, she did not come to her husband's rescue nor called for help, he said.

The forest officer's mother Tulasi Mohapatra said she was not satisfied with the Crime Branch's probe and demanded a CBI investigation into the death.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)