Cuttack: The Court of District and Sessions Judge here on Wednesday sentenced Jyotiranjan Mohanty and his younger brother Priyaranjan to life imprisonment after their conviction in the lady judicial officer murder case that had sent shockwaves across the state five years ago.

Anupama Behera, 32, a process inspector in Balasore, was found dead in her official residence under mysterious circumstances on March 15, 2013. She was expected to join as a sub-judge in Koraput 10 days later following her promotion and transfer.

On March 17, 2013, police arrested Jyotiranjan and his brother Priyaranjan, both natives of Nayagarh, and named them as prime accused and co-accused in the murder. Jyotiranjan was a bench clerk under Anupama when she was posted as the judicial magistrate (first class) at Ranpur in Nayagarh District.

Initially, the trial was scheduled to be held in a Balasore court from 2013. But, Orissa high court shifted the trial to Cuttack as it felt that the trial might not be fair and impartial in Balasore.

Public prosecutor Ajit Patnaik said: "Justice Sanjay Kumar Sahoo sentenced both the accused to life imprisonment after convicting them under Section 302 (murder) and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them."

"The court also convicted Priyaranjan under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to four years of concurrent imprisonment," Patnaik said.