Mom of Pocso court judge alleges son was murdered

Bhubaneswar: The family members of the special Pocso court judge, who was found hanging at his official residence in Cuttack on Friday, have demanded a thorough probe into the case which was prima facie treated as suicide by police.

Judge Subash Kumar Bihari's mother alleged that her son was murdered by his wife and her brother.

Tulashi Bihari, 70, on Saturday approached the Markatnagar Police Station in Cuttack and lodged an FIR. She alleged that her son was undergoing mental torture since his marriage to Aparajita in 2007. "My son used to tell me how he was undergoing mental trauma and his relationship with her had got soured."

"She alleged that her daughter-in-law in connivance with her family members had murdered him and later hanged his body from the ceiling fan to give it a colour of suicide. Tulashi also alleged that her request to take the body to their native village in Jajpur for cremation was turned down.

Subash's younger brother Subodha, who works at an auto showroom in his native Jajpur, said: "My mother stays with me in the village. My brother had a love marriage. After marriage, he stopped coming to our house. Last June, he had come to the village to attend a marriage ceremony but did not turn up at the house. But we never complained about this."

Inspector-in-charge of Markatnagar Police Station, Cuttack, Beauty Mohanty told The Telegraph: "Earlier, we had registered a UD (unnatural death case). Now after the mother lodged an FIR, we have to re-open the case. We are waiting for the post-mortem report." Sources said Judge Subash Kumar Bihari allegedly committed suicide on Friday, the day his father's death anniversary was observed. Subash's father passed away in 1997. "There might have been differences between him and his wife over his intention to go to the village to attend the death anniversary of his father. She might have opposed the idea. This could have broken him down mentally. But the prima facie it appears to be a case of suicide," said a source.