INDIA: ODISHA COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH FOR TWIN MURDER

January 15, 2015: A District and Sessions Judge court in Odisha’s Jajpur district handed out the death sentence to a man accused of double-murder in 2011.
The accused, Ganeswar Mahanta, had stabbed his widowed aunt Kanchan Mahanta and her father Dukhabandhu Mahanta to death over a property dispute on 14 March, 2011. The incident, which took place in Banagaon Natasahi village under Sukinda police limits of Jajpur district, had sent shock waves in the mining town.
The accused had hacked the duo to death with a sharp weapon following a dispute over ancestral property. The dispute over sharing of property between Kanchan and Ganeswar had grown bitter after the demise of the former’s husband, investigating officer had said.
Following the incident, Ganeswar was on the run. The police had launched a massive search operation at several places, but were unable to nab the culprit.
As a last resort, the police picked up the parents of Ganeswar and threatened to book them as conspirators. Cornered over this, the accused, who had taken shelter at one of his relatives’ place, surrendered before the Judicial Magistrate (First Class Court) at Jajpur Road, a fortnight after committing the ghastly crime in broad daylight. (Sources: Odisha Sun Times Bureau, 15/01/2015)