Additional district sessions judge Chintamani Panda convicted Himadri Sekhar Das alias Rahim Khan of Midnapore in West Bengal, his wife Aisha Begum and his brother-in-law Fakir Mallick of Nayagarh for the murder of Dinabandhu Mallick and his family members at Dinadia village.
According to the court proceedings, Rahim and Aisha had established a close relationship with Mallick and his wife Nirmala a few years before they committed the crime. The duo had also visited Mallick’s Dinadia residence quite a few times.
The couple had reached Mallick’s residence around 8 pm September 21, 2015, and requested for a night halt. First, they killed Mallick who was asleep and later eliminated his wife Nirmala who tried to save her husband.
Subsequently, Rahim and Aisha killed two minor daughters to eliminate all pieces of evidence. The sole purpose of the killings was loot.
Soon after killing Mallick and his family members, Rahim and Aisha had left for Raipur after looting ornaments, a motorcycle and a few mobile phones from Mallick’s house.
They reached Assam by train after selling the stolen jewellery for Rs 30,000.
The police had registered a case in this regard and begun a probe and then the case was handed over to the Crime Branch (CB).
The CB officials had traced Rahim and Aisha to a slum near Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam by tracking their mobile phones. A special team of CB had nabbed the couple October 9, 2015.
Subsequently, the CB officials came to know that Mallick’s brother-in-law Fakir was the mastermind behind the incident.
“The judge will pronounce the quantum of punishment for the trio February 8,” said public prosecutor Chittaranjan Kanungo.
Prasanta Patnaik