Judo coach Biranchi killers get life term

By Debdas Pradhan
Bhubaneswar, Dec. 17: The Fast Track Court-III, Bhubaneswar, on Friday awarded life sentence to gangster Sandeep Acharya alias Raja and his aide Chagala alias Akshaya Behera in the murder case of Biranchi Das, the coach of wonder boy and marathon runner Budhia Singh.
Both the accused were convicted on December 13 under Sections 302 (murder) read 34 (common intention) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
The court awarded three years imprisonment to the two convicts under Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.
Reacting to the judgment, public prosecutor Sudhansu Sekhar Swain said: “I bow down and accept the judgment.”
Hailing the verdict, Biranchi’s widow Gitanjali said she was happy that the culprit was finally punished in the court of law. “I’m happy that the culprit has been punished. This would certainly send message to his followers not to commit any such offences in future,” she said.
Bana Mohanty, Raja’s counsel said the lower court’s verdict would be challenged in the Orissa High Court. “We welcome the judgment. However, since there are no substantial evidences against Raja and Chagala, we will challenge the judgment in the upper court,” said Mr Mohanty.
Immediately after the judge, Bibekananda Dash pronounced the sentence, the convicts were whisked away to Jharpada jail in a highly fortified van.
Before the judge announcement sentence, the prosecution lawyers – while mentioning that Biranchi murder case was a rarest of rare crime - argued for capital punishment saying that the convicts had serious criminal antecedents and they were unlikely to mend themselves in the future. The defence counsel objected to it and said the nature of murder did not come under the rarest of the rare crime category.
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