Odisha court awards death sentence to 9 in sorcery related triple murder
RAYAGADA: In a rarest of rare case, Gunupur Additional District Judge Subhendu Kumar Pati on Friday handed out death sentence to nine persons in connection with brutal murder of three persons in one
family in Odisha's Rayagada district, 18 months back.
The convicts are Degunu Sabara, Dasantu Sabara, Dalasa Sabara, Ajanta Sabara, Podantu Sabara, Iru Sabara, Lakia Sabara, Bubuna Sabara and Maliku Sabara.
According to the prosecution, the convicts had branded Asin Sabara, his wife Ambai Sabara and elder daughter Asimani Sabara of Kitum village as witches and held responsible for death of children in their village.
Accusing them of practicing sorcery, they dragged them out of their house and took to a cowshed where they were mercilessly beaten. As the victims fell unconscious, the villagers had injected them
with pesticides in their sensitive parts like eyes and private parts and buried them alive on September 9, 2016.
When they came to know that somebody had tipped off the police about the crime, the accused persons had then exhumed the bodies and had set them on fire on the same night.
Additional Public Prosecutor Krushna Chandra Senapati said the brutal crime had happened in front of Melita Sabara, daughter of Asin. She was threatened with dire consequence if she disclosed the
incident. She was in fact kept confined in the house of Bubuna Sabara, he informed.
Later, Melita managed to escape from the house and lodged an FIR with Putasingh police station on September 16. Putasingh IIC Gyanendra Sahu had registered a case and arrested the accused persons
including a juvenile.
“The accused were tried under section 302, 201 of IPC and 9 of Odisha Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act, 2013. The court pronounced the judgement after examining the statements of 11 witnesses and other
related documents,” Senapati added.