Dharamgarh Additional District and Sessions Judge Bandana Kara on Monday sentenced a man to undergo 10 years imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 10,000 for allegedly chopping off the palms of two migrant labourers. The case had occurred in 2013 under the Jaipatna police station in Kalahandi district.
The convict, Parshuram Naik (40) of Nuaguda in Kalahandi district was an associate of middlemen, who was involved in cutting off the right palms of two labourers as they had tried to escape from their clutches. While eight accused were sentenced to life in connection with the case in 2016, Naik was absconding and later arrested. Altogether nine persons were involved in the incident. The middlemen had given Rs 10,000 advance to each labourer to work in a brick klin at Raipur in Chhattisgarh. Meanwhile, they (middlemen) changed the plan and tried to send them to Hyderabad by train. However, after conflict with the middlemen, twelve labourers got down from the train midway and returned home. But Dayalu Nial and Nilambara Dhangda Majhi were caught by the middlemen and their palms were severed in a forest of Balangir district.
Public Prosecutor Thabira Sahu said before chopping off the palms, the middlemen had demanded Rs 2 lakh from the family members of the two victims who could not pay the amount.
The lawyer said that Parshuram also helped the middlemen in finding the whereabouts of Dayalu and Nilambar who belong to the Nuaguda and Pipalguda villages in Jaipatna block.The other eight accused serving life imprisonment are Parbesh Dundi, Baikuntha Rout, Arjun Bhoi, Gangadhar Das, Bana Majhi, Jaisen Thela, Bimal Rout and Mantu Nial. The State Government had paid a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the victims.