Bhubaneswar: The Ganjam district and sessions judge today convicted as many as 11 accused persons in the sensational Shanti Mishra murder case occurred in 2013.
The accused who were convicted in the case today are Rakesh Panda, Tukuna Behera, Satish Kumar Sahu, Mrutyunjay Sabat, Santosh Panigrahi, Budu Das, Ganesh Panigrahi, S. K. Zafar, Babaji Rana, Sankarshan Padhi, and Shankar Behera. Another accused Mauz Mishra is still at large.
The court convicted them on the basis of the statements of 26 witnesses and other evidence and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
It is to be noted here that Mauz along with all the convicts waylaid Shanti Mishra while he was returning on a bike after appearing before Gosaninuagan police in a case on January 29, 2013. Before anyone could know the reason, they attacked Shanti with sharp weapons.
In order to save his life, Shanti entered into the nearby pond. But the convicts surrounded him and killed by hurling bombs at him and hacking him. Soon after killing Shanti, all of them fled the spot.
Gosaninuagan police reached the spot and rescued Shanti in a very critical condition. He was admitted at MKCG Medical College and Hospital for treatment. However, he succumbed to his injuries.
Later, police initiated an investigation into the matter after registering a case and arrested 11 people for their involvement in the crime and forwarded them to the court.