HC upholds conviction of hooch tragedy kingpin

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Saturday upheld the conviction of the kingpin of the 1991 Cuttack hooch tragedy Surendra Kumar Das alias Belu and three others in a murder case by ad-hoc Additional Sessions Judge of Fast Track Court AK Bihara.The division bench of the Court comprising Justices BP Das and MM Das observed that in view of the evidence there was no infirmity in the judgment of the trial court and as such no necessity to disturb the findings recorded.The prosecution case is that on the morning of April 26, 2001, the victim Rai Mohan Pattnaik was going on road at Kesharpur area of Cuttack city when he was shot down. He was allegedly suspected to be a police informer and thus eliminated.He was rushed to hospital and died there.The family members of the Pattnaik deposed before the court and stated that three persons had earlier come to their house and had threatened Patnaik.   During trial, the trial court found that Belu, even though he was in jail at the time, was the main conspirator along with his brother Rama Chandra Das.Considering the evidence the trial court had convicted Yondava Jagannath, Gaba Nandi, Rama Chandra Das and Belu under sections 302/120-B/34 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to life.