Cuttack: More than five years after her brutal murder, the lady Judicial Magistrate of Balasore Anupama Behera finally got her due justice as the Court of the Additional District Judge First Class on Wednesday awarded lifer to the two brothers after finding them guilty of murder.
The ADJ, First Class, Sanjay Kumar Sahoo pronounced the verdict after convicting Jyotiranjan Mohanty, a former Peskar of Ranpur court and his younger brother Priyaranjan Mohanty in the case under Section 302 of the IPC for murder and 120 (b) of the IPC for hatching criminal conspiracy to eliminate Behera.
Besides, the court awarded four years’ of additional jail term and fine of Rs 10,000 to Priyaranjan for destroying the evidence.
The court also made it clear that in case Priyaranjan fails to pay the penalty, he will serve another one year in jail.
Though there was no eyewitness to the murder, the court delivered the judgment on the basis of the circumstantial evidence, fingerprints of the accused and the statement of 27 witnesses.
As per the case records submitted by the police to the court, Anupama had married a doctor in 2009 while she was working as a process inspector in Ranpur court in Nayagarh district. However, taking advantage of the marital discord between them, Jyotiranjan managed to develop intimate relationship with her. But as Jyotiranjan was married, his extra-marital relationship with Anupama triggered bitterness in his family.
The relationship between Anupama and Jyotiranjan went to such extent that both of them got married in Bhadrakali temple at Ranjpur in 2010 which subsequently witnessed a series of suicide attempt by his first wife.
Unable to sustain the pressure of the family, Jyotiranjan finally decided to eliminate Anupama for which he sought the help of Priyaranjan.
In the meanwhile, Anupama was transferred to Balasore and posted as Judicial Magistrate.
According to eyewitnesses, Jyotiranjan and his brother used to visit the official residence of Anupama in Balasore frequently.
Jyotiranjan had conspired the murder plan which was executed by his brother.
As per the plan, Priyaranjan arrived at the official residence of Anupama in Balasore on March 14 (Thursday), 2013.
After having their dinner, the duo later retired to the bed. In the early morning hours between 4 am and 5 am, Priyaranjan went to Anupama’s bedroom. After finding her in deep sleep, he stabbed her stomach and then pressed a pillow on her mouth to ensure that she would die without raising alarm.
After committing the crime, he fled the area and left for Angul. On the next day, police recovered Anupama’s body after informed by the locals.
But to their ill-luck, the two brothers were arrested by the Balasore Town police two days after the murder.
While the case was initially tried at the Balasore District Judge court, it was later shifted to the ADJ court in Cuttack.
Expressing happiness over the verdict of the court, Anupama’s brother, Amiya Kumar Behera said, “I am happy that the accused were punished. I am happy that the court has finally delivered justice to my sister.”
However, counsel of the accused, Jagabandhu Panda said the judgement is a moral and sentimental one. But there is no evidence against the accused. “We will challenge the verdict of the ADJ court in the upper court,” he pointed out.
