Murder convicts’ plea rejected by Orissa HC after 22 years

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has dismissed a criminal appeal filed by three persons after 22 years while giving its approval to the Trial Court judgment that had convicted and sentenced the trio to life imprisonment for committing murder.

HC had granted bail to all three convicts - Harsha Behera, Sarata Behera and Prakash Sahu, 18 years ago.
The prosecution story was that since the deceased Bimbadhar Behera of Durgpur village under Kaniha police station limits was appointed as a control dealer and received the official order to lift rations on April 22, 1998.

The accused persons murdered him in the intervening night of April 20/21, 1998, a day prior to the lifting of the ration.The Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Talcher had convicted Harsha, Sarata and Prakash of murder charges and sentenced them to life imprisonment on August 26, 2000. They challenged the Trial Court verdict the same year.

Their criminal appeal was pending all these years till it was dismissed on Monday. The case was based on circumstantial evidence with no person having actually seen the assault on the deceased.The HC felt the Trial Court concluded that the prosecution had been able to prove the case against the accused beyond all reasonable doubt and proceeded to convict and sentence them to life imprisonment.

Accordingly, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Chittaranjan Dash said the Trial Court had not committed any error in convicting the Appellants and sentencing them to life imprisonment.