Odisha Court Awards Death Sentence To Five Persons For Committing Murder, Chopping & Attempting To Eat Body Parts Over Political Rivalry

A Sessions Court in Odisha's Keonjhar has convicted and sentenced five persons to capital sentence and ordered to hang them by neck till death for committing murder of an ex-Block chairman and Congress leader, amputating his hands and legs and attempting to eat the body parts.

Describing the depravity with which the crime got unfolded, the Additional District & Sessions Judge of Anandapur Ms. Prajyoti Rout observed:

“The convicts mercilessly assaulted the deceased and cut his hands and legs. Thereafter, they were roaming in the village by carrying the cut hands of the deceased to create havoc in the society. Thereafter, chopped the said cut hands into many pieces for their sadistic pleasure and cruel delight. Also, attempted to eat the same by putting it in the mouth of one convict which shows the character of demon. More so, they discussed to keep the cut pieces in the refrigerator and further to eat the same by frying which indicates the soullessness nature. The series of inhuman act of the convicts involves extreme brutality and exceptional depravity.”

Case Background

The deceased Ramachandra Behera was the ex-Block Chairman of Anandapur in the district of Keonjhar. Though he was a popular and senior leader from the Indian National Congress, he was all set to join Biju Janata Dal (BJD) before the 2019 Assembly elections.

The accused persons, knowing the plans of the deceased, hatched a conspiracy to kill him and accordingly, on 25.03.2019, proceeded to his house at about 10:30 PM in the night. After having a discussion with the deceased over 30 minutes, they called him towards the gate of his house.

When the deceased went with them, they dragged him and assaulted mercilessly. The accused persons allegedly amputated the left hand of the deceased and also cut three fingers from the right hand. When the family members of the deceased came to spot and cried for help, the accused persons left the spot with the weapons and the amputated body parts.

It was further alleged that they roamed around the village with the amputated hand of the deceased and later on, chopped the body parts into many pieces. Some video clips were recovered from which it came to the light that accused persons discussed among themselves to fry the cut limbs and also to store the rest in refrigerator.

It was also found from the video that one of the accused persons attempted eat the flesh of the deceased by putting a piece of chopped hand into his mouth.

Court's Observations

After examining 53 witnesses, 267 exhibited documents and 30 material objects, the Court came to a definite conclusion that the five accused persons along with a juvenile committed the crime. It further observed:

“More so, the video goes to amply establish the intention of the accused persons and their subsequent barbaric, cruel, heartless and inhuman conduct to satisfy their revenge. The circumstance of this case is definite nature and tendency unerringly pointing towards guilt of the accused persons and form a chain so complete in itself that there is no escape from the conclusion that within all human probability the crime was committed by the accused persons by mercilessly assaulting him with deadly weapons.”

The Court also held them guilty under Sections 120B of the IPC for hatching a criminal conspiracy to execute their plan to commit the grotesque crime. Also, they were held liable under Section 201 of Penal Code for concealing the evidence of the crime after its commission. Above all, they were also held guilty for possessing deadly weapons without requisite license under the Arms Act.

So far as sentencing was concerned, the Court examined all the aggravating and mitigating circumstances in a detailed manner and came to the conclusion that the acts of the accused persons come under the category of 'rarest of rare' and thus, warrants imposition of the severest punishment, i.e. death penalty.

“It is discovered that, the crime was committed in a preordained manner. It is established that, this is a calculated and cold blooded murder. The action of the convicts are exceptionally barbaric and as such is despicable. From the digital document, it is evident about the guise and revulsion of the convicts for such brutal murder and their scenario, proposition as well as yearn for such crime. Further it demonstrates that for sadistic and ruthless pleasure, they have adopted hardboiled and monstrous strategy. The brutal dastardly act and the ruthless manner in which the convicts acted like demon is unheard of in the modern day society,” the Court added while handing down the sentence.

Case Title: State of Odisha v. Chilu @ Sanjeev Kumar Prusty & Ors

Case No: Sessions Trial Case No. 42 of 2019

Dates of Judgment: March 05 (judgment on conviction) & March 06 (order on sentence), 2024

Click Here To Read/Download Judgment