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Jharkhand court gives death sentence to two Maoists for killing SP, five other cops
The case relates to the killing of the then Pakur superintendent of police Amarjit Balihar and five other policemen in 2013 when Maoists ambushed a police convoy in Dumka’s Kathikund area.
A local court in Dumka on Wednesday sentenced to death two Maoists for killing the then Pakur superintendent of police Amarjit Balihar and five other policemen in 2013.
The court of district and additional session judge Md Taufiqual Hassan awarded death penalty to Maoists—Sukhlal Murmu alias Pravir Da and Sanatan Baksi alias Tala.
Earlier, the court on September 6 had convicted the two accused under various sections of the IPC, including Section 302 (murder). It had, however, acquitted five other accused—Satan Besra, Lobin Murmu, Wakil Hembrom and two with a common name Emanuel Murmu—involved in the case for want of evidence.
Balihar, a tribal with an impeccable service record, had joined the state police in 1986 and was promoted to the IPS cadre in 2003. On July 2, 2013, Maoists ambushed a police convoy in Dumka’s Kathikund area, killing Balihar and five other policemen—Chandan Kumar Thapa, Ashok Srivastava, Manoj Kumar Hembrom, Santosh Mndal and Rajiv Kumar Sharma. The SP’s convoy was on its way back to Pakur after a review meeting in Dumka when Maoists attacked them and opened fire indiscriminately on them. Several other cops were injured in the ambush too.
“The court found that the gruesome killing of police personnel, including the SP, while on duty came under the purview of the rarest of rare case and the convicts, therefore, didn’t deserve anything less than the death sentence,” said advocate Raja Khan, representing one of the convict Sukhlal Murmu.
“The court awarded death sentence to Murmu and Baksi under Section 302 (murder) and Section 396 (dacoity with murder). It sentenced life imprisonment to them under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and Section 27 (2) of the Arms Act,” Khan said.
Convict Pravir Da has been serving life imprisonment since August 9, 2016, after he was found guilty in another murder case.
