Berhampur: Four members of a family were awarded life imprisonment Monday after being convicted of a murder here in Ganjam district.
The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 each on the four members of a family. The accused would undergo an additional jail-term, if they default the fine, the court ruled.
District sessions judge Bibhu Prasad Routroy awarded the punishment after examining the statements of 22 witnesses in the case. The convicts have been identified as S Dambha Dora, his wife S Sashi Dora and their two sons S Bhagirathi Dora and S Sadasiv Dora of Kansamari village under Patapur police limits.
According to the case diary, the incident occurred July 2, 2014. A rift cropped up between Dambha and his elder brother S Kureshu Dora over property. Things took an ugly turn after the couple and their two sons attacked Kureshu during an altercation between the two families on the issue.
They attacked Kureshu and beat him to death with bamboo sticks and iron rods. A case of murder was registered in this connection and the four were detained and produced in court.
Since then, three of them were in jail while Sashi was out on bail.
After four years, judge Routroy pronounced the verdict and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Public prosecutor Ajit Pattnaik handled the case on behalf of the government.
PNN