BHUBANESWAR: Khurda District and Sessions Judge Court on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to the prime accused in the Bachan Sudha Pattnaik murder case in the Capital city in 2013. Judge Lokanath Mohapatra awarded lifer to Dipti Ranjan Pattnaik, who was employed as a security guard at the victim’s house in Rasulgarh, under Section 302 (murder) along with Rs 5,000 fine.
Besides, Dipti was awarded three years imprisonment along with Rs 2,000 fine under Section 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and three years imprisonment along with Rs 2,000 fine under Section 454 (trespassing) of IPC. All the sentences will run concurrently.
“The prime accused had killed Bachan Sudha - wife of businessman Manu Charan Pattnaik - at their Sabar Sahi home in Rasulgarh under Mancheswar police limits while committing robbery on September 11, 2013. About 18 witnesses, 39 documents and 22 material objects were examined during the trial,” Public Prosecutor Sarat Chandra Samanta said.
The city police had later nabbed Dipti from Nayagarh along with the knife used in the crime.
Rajendra Security Agency, which had Dipti on its roll, was found to be unregistered and without an operation licence but the Commissionerate Police was clueless about its status till the murder took place.