5 awarded life term for killing journalist




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A local court Thursday sentenced five persons to life imprisonment for the killing of a journalist in Odisha’s Ganjam district five years ago.

The scribe, Tarun Acharya, 35, was killed on May 27, 2014, for exposing that child labourers were being engaged in a cashew processing unit, his family said.

Additional district and sessions judge of Khallikote, Srinibash Pratihari, held all the five accused, including the owner of the cashew processing unit, guilty of the killing.

The convicts have been identified as Shyam Sundar Prusty, Santosh Maharana, R Ramesh Reddy, Shivram Naik and Suresh Sahu.

One accused is still absconding.

The body of Acharya with his throat slit was found on May 28, 2014, on the way leading to his village Bikrampur from Khallikote.

Crime Branch of the state police had taken up the investigation in 2015 following the direction of the Orissa High Court.

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