June 28, 2019
Berhampur: Five people, including the owner of a cashew processing unit, were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Ganjam
trial court on Thursday for the murder of a 35-year-old journalist, five
years ago.
Images by IT
A sixth accused is yet to stand trial as he is absconding. Tarun Acharya was killed on May 27, 2014, after his report
on child labour being used in a local cashew processing unit appeared in an Odia newspaper.
His body was found the next day,
in a pool of blood, with his throat slit near Khallikote.
“My brother was killed by the owner of the cashew processing unit because of he exposed the use of children there,” said his
brother
Tapas Acharya, who himself is a lawyer. “We are happy that we get justice after five years,” he added, and appealed to the
police to arrest the absconding convict.
The additional district and sessions judge, Srinibash Pratihari, found all five accused - P.Shyam Sundar Prusty, owner of the
cashew unit, Sibaram Nayak, Suresh Chandra Sahu, Santosh Moharana and P. Ramesh Reddy— guilty of the murder.
Nursingh
Charana Panda, the sixth accused, is still at large.
Prusty, the owner of the cashew processing unit was arrested 10 days after the murder. He had hired three goons from
Berhampur, including Moharana and Reddy, to eliminate Acharya, sources said.
The crime branch took up the investigation on the direction of the high court and the prosecution produced 47 witnesses,
which led to the convictions, special public prosecutor Santosh Kumar Mund said.
Journalists welcomed the verdict. ‘It is not only a victory for the family members of the deceased journalist, but also a victory for
the entire journalist community,” said Rabi Rath, state president of National Journalist Union (India).
The Odisha Union of Journalists president, Prasanna Mohanty, said they had taken up the issue with the state government. The
government was forced to order the probe by crime branch due to the demand of journalists. “We are happy as the criminals
involved in the murder got their due punishment,” Mohanty said.
By Hrusikesh Mohanty
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