Cuttack: The court of district and sessions judge will pronounce on February 20 verdict on the petition of gangster siblings - Sushant, 46, and Sushil Dhal Samant, 43 - for a single trial in the two cases of kidnapping and murder against them.

The duo are prime accused in the kidnapping and murder of their two associates, Manoj Mallick and Om Prakash Swain, who had allegedly been abducted from their houses and beaten to death at a farm house near Athagarh in Cuttack district in 2013.

The process for joint trial in the two cases was supposed to start in the court of district and sessions judge, Cuttack with police framing charges against them in both the cases in November last. But the duo had filed a petition for one trial.

The police had treated them as two cases and filed two charge sheets to harass the accused, the lawyer for the siblings said when the petition was heard on Monday.