Nimapara: Additional district sessions judge Chintamani Panda Wednesday convicted three persons in connection with the murder of retired Puri district education officer (DEO) Dinabandhu Mallick and three of his family members at Dinadia village under Astarang police limits September 21, 2015.
The convicted are: Himadri Sekhar Das alias Rahim Khan of Midnapore in West Bengal, his wife Aisha Begum of Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Mallick’s brother-in-law Fakir Mallick of Nayagarh. “The additional district sessions judge would pronounce the quantum of punishment for the trio February 8,” said public prosecutor Chittaranjan Kanungo.
Earlier, Rahim and his wife Aisha were brought from Nimapara jail amid tight security and produced in the court.
According to the court proceedings, Rahim and Aisha had somehow succeeded in establishing close relationship with Mallick and his wife Nirmala a few years before they committed the heinous crime. The duo had also visited Mallick’s Dinadia residence quite a few times.
The couple had reached Mallick’s residence around 8 pm September 21, 2015 and requested for a night halt. First, they killed Mallick who was asleep and later eliminated his wife Nirmala who tried to save her husband. Subsequently, Rahim and Aisha killed the Mallicks’ two minor daughters to eliminate all evidences. They killed Mallick and the other three by slitting their throats. The sole purpose of the killings was loot.
Soon after killing Mallick and his family members, Rahim and Aisha had left for Raipur via Angul in Dhenkanal district after looting jewellery, a motorcycle and a few mobile phones from Mallick’s residence. They reached Assam by train via Bhopal, Kharagpur and Silcher after selling the stolen jewellery against Rs 30,000.
Police had registered a registered a case in this regard and begun a probe. Subsequently, the case was handed over to the Crime Branch (CB).
The CB officials had traced Rahim and Aisha to a slum near Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam by tracking their mobile phones. A special team of CB had nabbed the couple October 9, 2015.
Subsequently, CB officials came to know that Mallick’s brother-in-law Fakir was the mastermind behind the incident.
