Sambalpur: A man was sentenced to death while his son was imprisoned for life after being convicted of murdering three members of a family belonging to Lapada village in Bamra block of this district, October 21, 2020. Kuchinda Additional District Judge (ADJ) Rajkishore Lenka also imposed a penalty of Rs 1,00,000 each on the convicted father-son duo identified as Naveen Dehury (55) and Hemananda Dehury (22), informed Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Rabindra Kumar Nayak. The verdict was pronounced within 34 months of the gruesome murders. Advocate Ranjan Kumar Sharma pleaded the case from the accused’s side while advocate Rabindra Nayak represented the deceased’s family.
As per the case diary, Naveen and his son Hemananda allegedly hacked to death with an axe Pirabati Behera (55), a widow, her daughter Sabitri Sahu (30), and son-in-law Giridhari Sahu (38). They carried out the gruesome act of forcibly grabbing the land which belonged to Pirabati. Before his death, Giridhari had been staying at his mother-in-law’s residence for the last five years and earned a living by cultivating her farmland.
As per the information available, Naveen and Hemananda first killed Giridhari when he was working on the farmland on a fateful day. The father-son duo then decided to eliminate both Pirabati and Sabitri as they felt it would be easier for them to take possession of the land without any survivors.
The accused attacked Pirabati when she was collecting water from a well. In an effort to save her mother, Sabitri rushed to the spot, but the duo hacked her to death too mercilessly. After getting information about the gruesome incident, the then SDPO, Raj Kishore Mishra, and IIC of Mahulapali PS, Jyotshnarani Behera reached the spot and arrested the duo. The murder weapon was also seized from their possession. Subsequently, the chargesheet was filed and finally, the two accused were convicted and handed their respective sentences by the court. The judge while pronouncing the verdict said, “The death penalty is awarded in rare cases and this is one such case.”
