Bhubaneswar, Aug. 31 -- The Orissa High Court has held that the arrest of former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Bikram Kumar Panda in connection with the high-profile murder of advocate and BJP leader Pitabas Panda was vitiated due to non-compliance with mandatory constitutional and statutory safeguards.

Delivering judgment in BLAPL No. 13860 of 2025, Single Judge Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra ordered that the petitioner be forthwith set at liberty on conditional bail, subject to terms imposed by the trial court.

Analysing recent Supreme Court precedents, including Vihaan Kumar vs State of Haryana (2025) and Mihir Rajesh Shah v. State of Maharashtra (2026), the High Court reaffirmed that informing an arrestee of the precise grounds of arres...