Jeypore: A local court Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to a man after convicting him of killing his uncle over land dispute.
District and sessions judge Bidyut Mishra awarded the life imprisonment to convict Khagapati Harijan, 42. The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on Harijan. He would undergo rigorous imprisonment of another year, if he defaults on the fine, the court ruled.
According to the case diary, the incident occurred June 26, 2016. Harijan was at loggerheads with his uncle Dhana Harijan, 60 over a land dispute. Things took an ugly turn after the two broke out in a fight over the issue once again.
In an act of revenge, Harijan attacked Dhana while the latter was on his way to guard a forest near the village. He later beat him to death with a lathi.
Seeing Dhana’s grandson Komalochan and Joseph approaching, he then fled the scene, leaving Dhana critically injured. The two rescued the elderly man and admitted him to Koraput district headquarters hospital (DHH) where he succumbed to the injuries.
Police registered a case and arrested Harijan.
The judge pronounced the verdict after examining the statements of seven witnesses in the case. Public prosecutor Sailaja Pattnaik handled the case on behalf of the government while SI Bankim Chandra Bobali was the investigating officer in the case.
PNN