Odisha Hand-Chopping Case: Ninth Convict Gets 10 Years Jail Term

Bhawanipatna: Additional District and Sessions Judge of Dharamgarh Bandana Kar on Monday sentenced a man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in the sensational 2013 incident in which an unlicensed labour contractor and his aides chopped off the palms of two migrant labourers for attempting to escape from their clutches.

The convict, Parshuram Naik (40) of Nuaguda in Kalahandi district, was an associate of middlemen, who was involved in the barbaric incident. He has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 10,000.

“Nayak had assisted the middlemen in finding the two labourers, Deyalu Nial and Nilambar Dhangda Majhi. They were part of a 12-member team from Nuaguda and Pipalguda villages under Jaipatna police limits,” said Public Prosecutor of Dharmagarh court Thabira Sahu.

Altogether nine persons were involved in the incident. “While eight accused were sentenced to life in 2016, Naik was absconding. He was arrested the same year,” he added.

Notably, the middlemen had given Rs 10,000 advance to each labourer to work in a brick factory at Raipur in Chhattisgarh. Later,  he forced them to board a train to Hyderabad from Raipur. Sensing trouble, the labourers disembarked from the train at different stations after Raipur and returned home. Nial and Majhi, however, were caught by the middlemen and their associates who followed them on learning that they were heading towards their home and taken to the Patidangar forest near Titilagarh.

Sahu said the middlemen had demanded a ransom of Rs. 2 lakh each from the families of the migrant labourers. “When they sensed that they would not be able to pay the amount, they cut off the right palms of both men as punishment for the escape attempt,” he added.

The other eight accused serving life imprisonment are Parbesh Dundi, Baikuntha Rout, Arjun Bhoi, Gangadhar Das, Bana Majhi, Jaisen Thela, Bimal Rout and Mantu Nial.

The state government had paid a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the victims.