Bhubaneswar: The Additional District Judge Court-II on Monday sentenced a person to undergo life imprisonment for killing his stepson five years back.
Judge Bandana Kar convicted the accused identified as Dasarati Tudu under Section 203 of the Indian Penal Code.
According to sources, the incident occurred at Mundasahi slum under Mancheswar police limits on March 11, 2019. On the fateful day, Tudu brutally killed his minor son Santosh Singh by smashing his head on the wall. Initially, the police had registered an unnatural death case in this connection but later converted it to a murder case after investigation.
The accused was arrested by the police and after a thorough investigation and trial, the Additional District Judge-2 Court in Bhubaneswar has sentenced him to life imprisonment.
It is pertinent to mention that Santosh’s mother left his first husband and married Tudu in 2017. But Tudu did not want to keep Santosh with him. That’s why he killed his son. Besides, Tudu was jailed earlier for misbehaving with women at the Mundasahi slum.
Public Prosecutor Salil Pradhan said, “On the fateful night, Tudu had killed his stepson Santosh brutally. Tudu’s wife Lakhmi married Sanjay Singh in Rourkela in 2011 and Santosh was born in 2014. Due to regular disputes between the couple, Lakhmi got married to Tudu leaving Sanjay. Tudu was not interested in keeping Santosh with him for which he mercilessly killed the latter. A day after committing the crime, Tudu took Santosh to Capital Hospital after killing him just to give it the name of unnatural death. Mancheswar case had registered an unnatural death case in this connection.”
Pradhan further said, “However, the truth came to the fore after the post-mortem report was out. During interrogation, Lakhmi who was seven months pregnant at that time revealed that Tudu had killed Santosh. Tudu had threatened her with dire consequences for which she kept mum. Based on the statements of seven witnesses including Lakhmi, ADJ Bandana Kar pronounced the order. The court also slapped a penalty of 20,000 on the convict.”