BHUBANESWAR: A court in Sambalpur on Wednesday awarded a death sentence to a man and life imprisonment to his son for their involvement in the sensational triple murder case in Lapada village within Mahulpali police limits on October 21, 2020.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Court in Kuchinda awarded the death sentence to Nabin Dehury and life imprisonment to his son Hemananda. As per the prosecution, Nabin had a decade-long land dispute with one Pirabati Sahoo (55). Pirabati had documents to support the ownership of the land but Dehury did not have any record to substantiate his claims.
Dehury planned to eliminate Pirabati and her entire family in revenge. On the fateful day, he stopped Pirabati's son-in-law Giridhari Behera when the latter was on his way to his farmland and attacked him with an axe. A villager present on the spot witnessed the bone-chilling murder.
Dehury reportedly washed the axe, covered it with his towel and walked towards the village. He spotted Pirabati and her daughter Sabitri who were fetching water from a tube well. He attacked Pirabati and when her daughter tried to escape, Hemananda caught her. Dehury and his son hacked the mother-daughter duo on the spot.
Pirabati's grandchildren and another daughter Manikya witnessed the brutal murders. Terrified, they locked themselves inside the house.
Additional public prosecutor (PP) Rabindra Kumar Nayak said the death sentence is ordinarily ruled out and can only be awarded for special reasons as provided in section 354 (3) of CrPC. "We argued in the court that the murders were extremely heinous in nature, rare in society and the lives of Sabitri Sahoo's minor children, a son and a daughter, will be in danger if Dehury is awarded a lesser sentence. Around 20 witnesses, including four eyewitnesses, were examined," he said.
Postmortem, scientific and chemical examination reports corroborated the triple murder. The verdict was pronounced by Additional District and Sessions Judge Raj Kishore Lenka, Nayak added.