Days before Panda shot himself and his family members with his semi-automated 0.32 bore imported pistol, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team raided his office and houses to ascertain his role in an alleged human trafficking scam.

The search was reportedly conducted July 21-23 on the basis of confessional statements by a few people arrested, including a Chennai-based senior emigrants official R. Sekar and an agent, Anwar Hussain.

Sekhar, who was allegedly accepting bribes to send hundreds of people abroad in connivance with agents in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, reportedly told the CBI that he was sharing the bribe money with seniors including Panda.

But a senior Orissa police official, citing a CBI source, said: 'The recovery from Panda's houses and office was insignificant. The amount of cash and gold recovered from the houses was worth less than Rs.300,000.'

He also said the investigating agency had found nothing to establishes Panda's involvement in the scam.

He came to his ancestral village Deogaon in Bargarh district July 27 after buying some bullets from an armoury in Bhubaneswar. He is believed to have first killed his wife at about 2 a.m. Friday before firing at his father, two sisters and only son and then turned the gun on himself.

The incident came to light after Panda's mother came down from the first floor of the house and found the victims. She then shouted for help.

His son, who managed to survive despite being hit by a bullet on his head, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhubaneswar. Doctors Sunday said he is still critical.