CUTTACK: The state government has approached the Orissa High Court for confirmation of the capital punishment awarded to Sanjeev Kumar Prusty, Ajit Kumar Prusty, Aruna Prusty, Alekha Prusty and Purna Chandra Boitei of Keonjhar district, by a trial court for killing ex-block chairman and Congress leader Ramachandra Behera, in 2019.
Provisions of the law mandate the state government to seek the high court’s validation of death sentence by a trial court. Without the HC’s confirmation, capital punishment cannot be carried out.
On March 6, a sessions court in Anandapur convicted the five persons accused in the brutal murder case in Ghasipura area and awarded death sentence after finding it to be “a rarest of rare case”.
The accused were punished for killing Behera in the presence of his young daughter on March 25, 2019.
They had also chopped off one of the hands and lower limbs of the deceased and made public display of the body parts to terrorise the people.
The court of additional sessions judge, Anandapur on the basis of circumstantial, material and medico-legal evidence awarded capital punishment to the five persons. The trial court relied on the depositions of 52 witnesses presented by the prosecution.
The state government’s application for confirmation of the death sentence was registered as DSREF-1/2024 on March 11. But the high court is yet to assign a judge for the case.