Berhampur: A court in Ganjam district Thursday sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment for killing a 31-year-old history-sheeter in Gosaninuagaon area about 11 years ago. The District and Sessions Court Judge, Rupashree Choudhury, awarded life imprisonment to the accused persons involved in the muchhyped Shanti Mishra murder case which took place January 29, 2013, after examining the recorded statements of 26 witnesses, police chargesheet and relevant documents, Public Prosecutor Trilochan Parida said. The convicts were identifi ed as Rakesh Panda alias Manga, Hariom Behera alias Tukuna alias Gopabandhu, Santosh Kumar Sahu alias Daktar, Mrutyunjaya Sabat, Santosh Panigrahi alias Ichili and alias Bulu, Budu Das, Ganesh Panigrahi alias Tilu, Sheikh Zafi r alias Sarif, Babaji Rana, Shankarshan Padhi alias Ami and Shankar Behera. They were produced in the court under tight security before the judgement was pronounced Thursday. Public prosecutor Trilochan Parida pleaded the matter on behalf of the state government.
The court slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on each of the convicts apart from the punishment, Parida said. In default, they have to undergo an additional year of imprisonment, he added. Another accused Ranjit Panigrahi alias Babu died during hearing of the case while the judge issued a non-bailable warrant against Mouja Mishra who failed to appear in the court during hearing of the case. The motive of the murder was previous enmity, police said. Mishra was involved in at least 22 cases. While at least a dozen people were directly involved in the incident, others hatched a conspiracy to fi nish him, police said. At least 13 people were implicated in Mishra’s murder case. According to the case diary, the victim Shanti Prasad Mishra was a noted history-sheeter and was out on bail from jail. The incident occurred when Mishra was returning home on his bike after appearing in Goshaninuagaon police station, January 29, 2013. He had reached near the Gundicha temple in Goshaninuagaon when around a dozen people came on six motorcycles and attacked him. He was trying to fl ee when they followed and assaulted him with swords. He jumped into a pond to save himself but the assailants hurled a bomb to terrify the locals.
Also Read: Widow alleges rape by panchayat official
Later, they surrounded Mishra from all sides and hacked him inside the pond and fl ed. Police reached the spot and rushed him to the MKCG Medical College and Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. Police registered a case over a complaint lodged by Anil Nayak and arrested the accused persons in phases. The accused were produced in the court and remanded to judicial custody before delivery of the order, Thursday.