Kandhamal riots case: 13 sentenced to six-year RI

A fast track court in Odisha has sentenced 13 persons to six-year rigorous imprisonment for their involvement in the 2008 Kandhamal riots.

Additional Sessions Judge (fast track court-1) Sobhan Kumar Das acquitted six others for lack of evidence on Saturday. The judge fined the convicts Rs. 5,000 each or ordered them to undergo six more months of rigorous imprisonment in default of payment.

The prosecution argued that the convicts had torched houses of those belonging to the minority communities at Salagduda during the riots on September 9, 2008. The violence was a sequel to the killing of senior VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati at his Jalaspeta ashram in the district. — PTI

Six accused acquitted for lack

of evidence