Lifer for 8 accused in Budu Patra murder case

Bhubaneswar: The Additional District and Sessions Court in Odisha’s Berhampur on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to eight accused for their alleged involvement in the sensational M Budu Patra murder case.

The Court pronounced the sentence after hearing 19 witnesses and examining other evidence in the case. M Budu Patra, who faced an attempt-to-murder charge, was attacked at Ambagada village in Ganjam district in September 2017.  He was immediately rushed to MKCG Medical College and Hospital following the brutal attack, he succumbed to his injuries.

According to the prosecution, the 30-year-old Patra was on September 17, 2017, attacked with sharp weapons by a group of miscreants over some past rivalry. Later, carrying out an investigation, the police arrested eight accused for their alleged involvement in the murder case. All of them have been in jail since September 2017.

G  Jena, Additional Public Prosecutor said, “A case was registered in connection with the murder and police had filed a chargesheet. As many as 19 witnesses were examined and the Court pronounced the judgment today. All the eight accused got life sentences.”

Jena said that the deceased had a dispute with the accused over some incident. Later, the accused attacked Patra and he was rushed to the hospital by his brother. During the treatment, Patra had succumbed to his injuries, he added.

The accused were identified as R Hari Patra, R Lokanath Patra, M Danda Patra, K Bima Patra, K Bairi Patra, M Somesh Patra, R Bhaskar Patra and B Nai Patra.

Sources informed that the accused were quite fed up with the notorious behavior of the deceased who always bullied them. He even tried to kill one of them and a case of attempt to murder was pending against him.

“Budu Patra was a notorious criminal. He was arrested and put in jail on an attempt-to-murder charge. After his release from jail on bail, he continued to terrorise his neighbours. As a result, the neighbours got united and killed him as an act of revenge,” a source close to the convicts said.