Bhubaneswar, Oct. 12: The Nuapada district and sessions judge today awarded death sentence to two youths for committing a double murder in 2011 over money matters.

This is the second instance in which death penalty has been ordered in the recently.

The two accused — Manoj Bhoi, 25, and Motilal Barik, 23, of Nuapada district — murdered Sahebani Mirdha, 40, and her daughter Kaulsalya, 11, on February 2 last year. They had also injured Sahebani’s husband and two sons. The two youths had visited the house of Pankaj Mirdha, 45, on February 1 and demanded Rs 30,000 from his wife, Sahebani. As she refused, the duo got angry and had threatened her with dire consequences.

The next night, the duo barged into Pankaj’s house when the family members were asleep. They attacked Pankaj and his two sons — Khirasindhu, 12, and Mukesh, 9, with sharp weapons. Then they murdered Sahebani and her daughter. While Sahebani died on the spot, the other four family members were rushed to hospital. Kausalya succumbed to her injuries the next day.

Pankaj and his two sons, who were critically injured, were shifted to VSS Medical College and Hospital at Burla in Sambalpur. They have recovered. Komna police had registered cases under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 458 (house trespass to hurt someone) of the Indian Penal Code. The trial court took up the hearing after questioning 17 witnesses. Pankaj identified the culprits.

Expressing his happiness over the verdict, he said: “We have got justice.” Public prosecutor Muralidhar Panda applauded the judgment. Defence counsel Bishnumani Panigrahi said his clients would appeal to Orissa High Court.

On October 8, a court in Sambalpur had awarded death penalty to a 35-year-old man for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl.