JAJPUR: As many as 17 persons were on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the killing of a couple on suspicion of practicing sorcery in Jajpur district three years ago. Jajpur Road Additional District and Sessions Judge Hrusikesh Acharya awarded them the jail term for the murder of the couple that took place three years ago. The court pronounced its verdict after examining as many as 20 witnesses and other evidence pertaining to the case, according to the public prosecutor Rajat Kumar Rout. The court also slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on each of the convicts, he said.
As per the case records, some villagers had barged into the house of the couple, identified as Shaila Balmuj and Sambari Balmuj at Nimapali village under Kalinga Nagar police limits in Jajpur district during the late hours of July 7, 2020, and attacked them brutally on suspicion of practicing sorcery. They later set the couple’s house on fire following which the husband-wife duo was charred to death. Police had registered a case and arrested as many as 17 villagers of Nimapali in connection with the incident.