Berhampur: A court in Odisha’s Ganjam district Friday awarded life imprisonment to five people after finding them guilty of killing a 66-year-old businessman six years ago.
The court of the third additional district and sessions judge B Goutam also imposed fines of Rs 13,000 to each of the convicts. In default, they will undergo four more months of rigorous imprisonment.
The court has pronounced its verdict after recording the statements of 41 witnesses and some other documents, said Biswajit Baral, public prosecutor (PP)
On the intervening night of June 13 and 14, 2020, the convicts trespassed into the office-cum-residence of the deceased, identified as Lambodar Muni, a distributor of milk and milk products, at Hillpatna area, for the purpose of committing dacoity.
They smothered Muni to death and took away the cash and gold ornaments from the house. The incident occurred amid a 48-hour shutdown imposed by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19.
As per the direction of the high court, the crime branch in 2023 took over the investigation of the murder case, said Barala.
The convicts were identified as Rupesh Padhy (30), Shiva Mahakuda (29), Ranjit Sahu (29), Srinu Patra (34) and Shankar Sahu (31).
PTI
