The Additional District Judge Court-II here on Saturday convicted and sentenced prime accused gangster Hyder belonging to Kendrapada and two of his associates, Bhabani Shankar and Sarat Sahoo, to life imprisonment in the brutal murder of Keonjhar-based minerals trader Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra.
The judgment came eight years after the abduction and killing of the trader.
The court also awarded 10 years of imprisonment to two other accused, Ganapati Ray and Jajati, while acquitting six persons due to lack of evidence in the sensational murder case.
Notably, Mohapatra was abducted from the Sahid Nagar area in Bhubaneswar on May 27, 2007 when he had come here to purchase marble slabs.
The abductors later demanded a ransom of `2 crore from Mohapatra’s family members. The family members also had paid `1 crore to the abductors for his release. However, they did not release Mohapatra.
The police, who were investigating the case, found two half-burnt bodies from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand of which one was identified as Mohapatra’s after DNA test conducted twice.
While the police had registered cases against 10 accused, including gangster Hyder, the court had recorded the statement of 46 witnesses in the case so far before pronouncing the judgment.
