Ex-BJD MP Bhaskar Rao Surrenders, Sent To Jail After Supreme Court Cancels Bail In 2010 Bhagirathi Mandangi Murder Case

Advocate Naba Kanta confirmed the surrender and the remand. "He was out on bail granted by the High Court, but the Supreme Court cancelled that bail, and he surrendered in court today as directed by the Supreme Court. The court has remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days," he said as per reports.

Hundreds of supporters called at Rao's residence before he left for the court. Asked for a statement on his surrender, Rao declined to give one, saying he was under considerable stress.

The Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva, on 26 October 2026, set aside the Orissa High Court's order of 22 January 2026 and the consequential order of 30 January 2026 by which the Rayagada SDJM court had granted regular bail to the accused. The Court was hearing a special leave petition filed by the complainant, Jagannath Mandangi, the brother of the deceased.

The court held that once the High Court had rejected the plea for anticipatory bail, it could not go on to direct the trial court as to the terms on which regular bail was to be granted. An application for regular bail, the Bench held, must be decided by the competent court independently and on its own merits.

The Bench directed the accused to surrender before the SDJM court within two weeks, a period that ran out on or about 9 November. It left them free to apply afresh for regular bail before the competent court in accordance with law. One report described the direction as one to surrender unconditionally.

Rao appeared along with three other accused, Epili Sanyasi Raju, P. Dilip Kumar and Krishna Rao. Their bail applications were also rejected, and all four were remanded to judicial custody and lodged in the Rayagada jail. Another accused, A. Adinarayana, is yet to surrender, according to officials. A sixth accused, Ela Venkata Rao alias Kandababu, died a few days before the surrender. The accused who are in custody remain at liberty to file fresh bail applications in terms of the Supreme Court's order.

Bhagirathi Mandangi, a member of the Managing Committee of the Maa Majhighariani Temple Trust at Rayagada, was abducted and murdered on 15 December 2010. His charred body, with the hands and legs tied, was later found floating in a dam in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

An FIR was registered at the Rayagada police station on 23 December 2010 under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. Samuel Tandi, counsel for Jagannath Mandangi, said the case is registered under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the erstwhile IPC.

The killing drew protests from the Adivasi Mahasangha in Rayagada in 2021 and again in 2023. The organisation demanded a speedy and impartial investigation, and alleged that Mandangi was killed because he had detected, and spoken out against, irregularities in the management of the temple.

The then State Government ordered a Crime Branch investigation after the protests, but the probe is alleged to have made little headway. Aggrieved by the delay, Jagannath Mandangi petitioned the Rayagada SDJM court seeking action in the case. According to Tandi, the court issued non-bailable warrants against the accused on the strength of the evidence and witness statements placed before it.

Rao is also under investigation in an unrelated matter. On 7 November 2026, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Investigation Department searched his residence in Rayagada and other premises linked to him, reported to number 11, in connection with the alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to the Rayagada Truck Owners' Association. Reports have put the amount involved at around ₹60 crore and at ₹80 crore. Officials said investigators seized several documents and ₹7 lakh in cash during the searches.

[Source: ANI and HT]