Gunupur: In a historic verdict, the Court of Additional District Judge in Gunupur in Odisha’s Rayagada district on Friday awarded capital punishment to nine convicts for the brutal murder of three members of a family at Kitunga village under Putasingh police limits on September 9, 2016.
According to the case records, some people of the village had died of diarrhea and dysentery in 2016. Suspecting that the death was due to the effect of sorcery, the villagers had warned a family. But the family did not pay heed to their request.
The incident took place in the night of September 9 when a group of youths of the villagers barged into the house of the family and forced them to give up practicing sorcery. But as they refused, the youths severely thrashed Asina Sabara, his wife Ambei Sabar and eldest daughter Asmani Sabar and then forced the couple to drink poison after tying them to a pole inside the house. They also brutally raped their eldest daughter till she lost her conscious. Later, they buried the three family members alive inside the house.
Before leaving the house, they threatened the Asina’s youngest daughter, the eyewitness, of dire consequences if she told the matter to the police.
But as the villagers came to know that the girl has informed the police, they came to the house after a week and burnt the three bodies after exhuming them.
Police later rushed to the spot and seized the bones and other articles from inside the house.
In course of investigation, police interrogated 10 persons of the village and registered case against nine.
After a 20-month trial, the ADG court awarded capital punishment to nine convicts for their heinous crime.
