Bhubaneswar, Feb. 13: A fast-track court here today awarded life sentences to eight persons from Mumdahanapatna under Balipatna police station area for murdering a villager five years ago. The murder was the fallout of a long-standing land dispute.
A.P. Sahu, judge of the fast track court II, convicted all the accused and sentenced them under sections 302 (murder)/149 (common object) of the Indian Penal Code. They were also asked to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 each.
In case they fail to pay the amount, they will have to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another year.
The convicts were also sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of one year each under sections 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons) and rigorous imprisonment of two years under section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons)/149 (common object) of the Indian Penal Code.
The accused had attacked and killed 48-year-old Surendra Prusty on the embankment of Kushabhadra river on June 8, 2006, with a sharp weapon.
They had also attacked two relatives of the deceased, Kailash Prusty and Umesh Prusty. However, the two survived.
Additional public prosecutor Pradeep Kumar Dash said Kailash later lodged a complaint with Balipatna police station. Both Kailash and Umesh were the eyewitnesses to the murder. “The statements of these two proved vital because they were the eyewitnesses,” said Dash.
Giving details of the case, Dash said the accused and the victims had long-standing land dispute.
On the fateful day in 2006, the convicts first attacked Kailash and Umesh near Balipatna market around 7am and later attacked Surendra when they found him on the river embankment.
A badly injured Surendra was first taken to Balipatna Public Health Center (PHC) and later rushed to SCB Medical College And Hospital in Cuttack, where he declared brought dead.
Though a case was lodged against around 15 people, police arrested 11 of them. The case ran for nearly two-and-a-half years before the sentences were pronounced today.
Manas Ranjan Mishra, the defence lawyer, said his clients would move the high court against the judgment.
