Bihar court sentences 19 people to life imprisonment in three-decade-old murder case

Sasaram, Bihar: A court in Bihar's Rohtas district on Wednesday awarded life sentence to 19 people in a more than 29-year-old murder case.

Passing the order, Additional District and Sessions judge Anil Kumar also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 each on all the convicts.

According to Additional Public Prosecutor Anil Kumar Singh, the verdict was pronounced in the case lodged in connection with the murder of Vinod Mali, a resident of Alampur village in Shivsagar police station area.

Mali and his family members were attacked over a land dispute on October 22, 1977, when he was shot dead, and his head and limbs were chopped off and thrown in a canal nearby.

"The court referred to the extreme cruelty while ordering that all the 22 accused be sent to prison for life," said the additional public prosecutor.

The convicts, all residents of the same village, included Umashankar Mahto, Bali Mahto, Santan Mahto, Ramendra Mahto, Arjun Mahto, Heera Ram Mahto, Dasharath Mahto, Ramchandra Mahto, Ashok Mahto and Guput Mahto.

Others who got the same punishment from the court were Ramnath Mahto, Arun Mahto, Ramashish Mahto, Umesh Mahto, Sunil Mahto, Rajeshwar Mahto, Rajeshwar Mahto, Premchand Mahto, Paramanand Mahto and Vishwanath Mahto.