Mr. Abhimanyu Panda, aged 54 years, was a RTI activist, leader of anti-liquor movement, former sarpanch of Bataguda Gram Panchayat and ex-vice chairperson of Baliguda block. He was an executive body member of Jagannath Temple, Puri. The HRD was filing RTIs from the past eight years to expose corruption and irregularities in the government development work. His recent RTI was filed for the four blocks of the Kandhamal district which infuriated the contractors and the public distribution service (PDS) dealers. He also filed RTIs about the irregularities in the management of Jagannath Temple.

According to sources, on December 10, 2019, at about 7.30 AM, noted RTI activist, Mr Abhimanyu Panda was shot dead in front of his house in Patrasahi village, Kandhamal district, Odisha. His village falls under the jurisdiction of the Baliguda police station. The assailants, on a bike, used a revolver to open fire from a close range and sped away. Hearing the sound of firing, the locals gathered and rushed him to the Baliguda district hospital where the doctors subsequently declared him brought dead. A cousin brother of Mr. Panda, Mr Nirmal Kumar Sahu, on the day of incident, at 8.30AM, reported to the police in writing about the death of his brother. A FIR has been registered under Section 302 and 304 of IPC read with Section 25 and 29 of the Arms Act. On the basis of the complaint, four perpetrators have been identified by the police. According to the copy of the FIR, at the time of death of the HRD, the assailants argued with him on the Jagannath temple issue and uttered “TU BADA BADA LOKANKA BIRUDHARE JAUCHHU TOTE MARIDEBU” (you are going against prominent people, we will kill you). We would like to bring this to your notice that one of the last RTIs filed by the HRD was on the irregularities in the management of the temple. The HRD was also vocal about irregularities in the government work. The HRD received various threats due to his activism. According to sources, in the past, District Superintendent of Excise had threatened Mr Pandaand asked him to withdraw one of his case. The threat was in furtherance of a case filed by Mr Pandain which the High Court subsequently decided in his favourand ordered for closing down of the liquor shop. The RTI activism of Mr Pandaforms the motive of the death. Mr Panda informed the police about the various threats he was receiving but still the police failed to provide protection to him. This incident is a result of inaction on the part of police and other state authorities. According to a statement given by Pradeep Pradhan, leading RTI activist and Convener of Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhiyan, RTI activists in Odisha have been facing harassment and threats over their RTI applications from the past 3 years. The activists have lodged FIRs regarding the threats and torture, but the police and the state government have not taken any action till date. Other RTI activists who have suffered due to police action are Krupasindhu Sahu, Ganesh Panda, Suresh Lanka etc. They have been brutally attacked and murdered for exposing corruption in government schemes and projects. Since the RTI Act has been enacted in the year 2005, various cases of assaults and killings of RTI activists have been reported. The activists have been instrumental in exposing corruption and bringing transparency in the governance system. The only way to curb the menace is well established mechanism consisting of defined procedures and quick action by the police officials on complaints of RTI users.