A court in Odisha's Kendrapara district on Thursday sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for killing an eight-year-old boy as part of an occult ritual five years ago. District and sessions judge Basudeb Panda awarded life term to Abhinash Choudhury, an ex-serviceman, and his accomplice Bairagi Das.
There was no eyewitness to the crime committed on April 14, 2015, and the court convicted them on the basis of circumstantial, material and scientific evidence, prosecution counsel Manas Behera said. The duo had slit the throat of class 4 student Rajesh Nayak with a sharp weapon and dumped the body in a river after completing the ritual.