Cuttack: In a significant verdict, the Orissa High Court has commuted the death sentence of nine persons to life imprisonment in a case involving the murder of three members of a family on suspicion of practising sorcery.
In October 2021, the District and Sessions Court in Rayagada had found the nine persons guilty of murdering the family members.
The lower court had pronounced death sentence to Degunu Sabara, Dasantu Sabara, Dalasa Sabara, Ajanta Sabara, Podantu Sabara, Iru Sabara, Lakia Sabara, Bubuna Sabara, and Maliku Sabara after holding them guilty of murdering Asina Sabara, his wife Ambai, and their daughter Asimani.
The convicts had moved the High Court challenging the lower court’s verdict. The High Court which had earlier reserved its judgment delivered its verdict, converting the death penalty into life imprisonment.
The triple murder incident had taken place at Rayagada’s Kitum village in 2016. The nine had held the family members– Asina Sabara, his wife Ambai, and their daughter Asimani — responsible for the spread of various diseases in the locality and accused the family of practising sorcery.
As per case record, the convicts forcibly dragged Asina Sabara, Ambai Sabara, and Asimani Sabara out of their house in Kitum village under Putasingh police limits in Rayagada district on September 9, 2016. The three were brutally assaulted in a cowshed. As a result, Asina, Ambai and Asimani fell unconscious. Subsequently, the attackers injected pesticides into their eyes and private parts and buried them alive.
On being informed about the horrific incident by the locals, the police swung into action to nab the guilty. Apprehending police action, the nine convicts exhumed the three bodies and burnt them in a bid to destroy evidence.
Now, the convicts will serve life sentence.
