Six family members get life imprisonment for murder in Odisha

Six members of a family, including a woman and a minor, were on Wednesday (September 3, 2025) sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment after being convicted in a 2022 murder case in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district.

The crime, rooted in a long-standing land dispute, took place in Baramasi village under Kodinga police station limits on August 9, 2022, when the victim, Dambarudhar Pujari, and his family were plucking beans in their field.

The convicts arrived in a tractor, attacked the family with sharp weapons, and ran the vehicle over one person’s leg.

While Dambarudhar Pujari and his relative Padlam Pujari sustained grievous injuries, the attackers fled assuming both were dead. Mr. Padlam suffered a fracture, while Dambarudhar succumbed to his injuries at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, on August 16, 2022.

“After nearly three years, Additional Sessions Judge Bishnu Prasad Mishra convicted Anant Pujari, Siba Shankar Pujari, Chandan Pujari, Dumar Pujari and Dalimba Pujari under Sections 302 and 149 IPC. A juvenile involved in the crime was tried separately and also sentenced to life imprisonment,” said Santosh Mishra, Additional Public Prosecutor.

Among the convicts, 73-year-old Damar Pujari is the eldest. His son Anant (50), daughter-in-law Dalimba (45) and three grandsons were all found guilty of participating in the murder.