The Economic Offences Wing of Odisha police had taken up the investigation of the fraud case following the Orissa High Court’s intervention in 2018, while the fraud was perpetrated in 2015.
The accused Balaram Sa had raped the minor who lived in his neighbourhood on 8 August, 2023.
The Additional District Judge-cum-Special POCSO Court, Jagatsinghpur, convicted the accused, Aman Razak, by taking into account the nature of the offence, the manner in which the offence was committed, and its impact on society.
The gruesome murder executed by Punjilal Meher, an English lecturer and former principal at Jyoti Vikas College, had triggered statewide furore as death danced in ugly form at the marriage reception function in Patnagarh town with the instant death of the duo on 23 February, 2018.
The court, earlier on 13 September last year, convicted the retired Sub Collector Pradeep Kumar Barik on corruption charges and sentenced him to undergo two-year rigorous imprisonment.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict and failure to pay would result in his sentence being increased by two years.
The 65-year-old man was sentenced to 20-year imprisonment for raping and impregnating a 16-year-old girl.
The convicted criminal Qadir (26) is the son of dreaded gangster Sheikh Hyder, who was gunned down on 24 July by a police escort team near Simulia in Balasore district while the convict was fleeing from their custody.
