As many as 16 persons were awarded life imprisonment by courts in Bhubaneswar and Keonjhar, respectively, on Thursday in connection with two separate murder cases.
The Bhubaneswar Additional District Judge held ten persons guilty in the murder of one Sandip Nanda near Ghatikia under the Khandagiri police station in the city in April 2012 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Nanda was bludgeoned to death by a group of locals with iron rods and lathis on the fateful day on the city outskirts. Acting on a complaint lodged by the family members of the deceased, the Khandagiri police had registered a case. During the course of investigation, the ten accused were arrested.
In another case, the Champua Additional District Judge court in Keonjhar district on the day convicted six persons for murdering a couple and their four children at Lahanda under the Joda police station in the district in July, 2015 and awarded them life imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 each.
In case of default, they would have to undergo additional imprisonment of one year. The court also sentenced a woman to three years in jail while acquitting two persons for want of evidence in the case.
On July 13, 2015, several villagers had hacked Gura Munda (35), his wife Budhni Munda (30), two sons Sunil Munda (16) and Kushanath (10) and two daughters Sambhari (12) and Namita (3) to death with sharp weapons, suspecting that the family was practicing witchcraft.