Bhubaneswar, May 20 (IANS) A local court in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar on Tuesday sentenced five members of a family to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life in a murder case that took place at a city slum in May 2023.

The accused members held guilty by the court were identified as Sujit Nayak, his brother Ajit Nayak, nephews Bishal Nayak and Tikili Nayak, and brother-in-law Subash Nayak of GED slum in Unit-I area of Bhubaneswar.

As per reports, the families of deceased Sushant Nayak and convicts were at loggerheads and often engaged in fights over different petty issues, such as the release of drain water by the deceased Sushant’s family towards the residence of the convicts.

Similarly, a case was registered with the local police by the deceased Sushant against one of the convicts, Bishal, for sexually misbehaving with the former’s niece on April 25, 2023.

A case was also lodged against Sushant’s brother for assaulting the convict Sujit’s sister with a sharp weapon a few days before the brutal murder took place.

Sujit’s family was holding a grudge against Sushant and his family members over the assault on the former’s sister. They later hatched a plan to take revenge against Sushant’s family.

Sushant’s wife used to work under Jagruti, a private sanitation agency that holds a contract from the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). When the deceased, after leaving his wife at her office, was returning home during the wee hours on May 24, 2023, the convicts intercepted his vehicle and assaulted him with swords and other sharp weapons near the slum.

Later, they escaped the crime scene, leaving Sushant in a pool of blood. The accused Sujit surrendered before the court while police nabbed other accused persons from their hideout in Kandhamal district following raids a few days after the incident.

The court, after hearing 18 witness testimonies, examining 16 exhibits and 39 documentary evidence, on Tuesday pronounced the judgement holding the accused guilty of killing Sushant.

--IANS

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