Court lets off 17 others for lack of evidence
Fine imposed for torching houses in 2008
Phulbani (Orissa): A fast track court here on Saturday convicted 13 people of the charges of arson and other crimes in the cases of rioting in Orissa’s Kandhamal district in 2008.
They were sentenced to five years in jail. The court let off 17 others for lack of evidence.
Arson charges
Judge Sobhan Kumar Das also imposed a fine of Rs. 2,500 on the convicts for torching houses in the Sarangarh area between August 2008 and October 2008. Eighteen others were acquitted in another case of arson at Phiringia.
In a different case, the court sentenced two persons to five-year RI and imposed a fine of Rs. 2,000 for arson at Ranjabadi village.
Fast track court-II judge C.R. Das acquitted four people of charges of violence in Baliguda area of the district.
Kandhamal, about 200 km. from here, witnessed widespread violence following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008. — PTI
