PHULBANI: A Kandhamal court on Thursday sentenced 30 persons to two years imprisonment in connection with the 2008 riots that rocked the State. Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Kotagarh Anurag Dehuri pronounced the verdict after holding the accused guilty. He also imposed a fine of Rs 1000 on each of the convicts.
The case pertained to assault on Atulya Parichha, a young Christian man of Bandapipili village of Kotagarh on September 31, 2008. Parichha had alleged that his house was ransacked and damaged by a group of people on the night of the incident. Subsequently, local police registered a case against 31 persons.
While one of the accused was declared dead during trial, non-bailable warrants have been issued against six other accused for their absence. Kandhamal witnessed one of the worst violent communal riots following the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and his aides by Maoists at his Jaleshpeta ashram on August 23, 2008.
More than 40 persons were killed during the riots triggered by the murder. Over 4,000 houses were either torched or damaged. The brutal killing was probed by the Crime Branch and around 828 criminal cases were registered, with 792 found to be genuine. Of this, chargesheet has been filed in 500-odd cases and trial has been concluded in half with several convictions. The State government had set up two fast track courts back then but the cases are now being heard by other courts in the district.