Rayagada: The court of the additional district and session judge, Gunupur, on Friday awarded capital punishment to nine persons for killing three members of a family at a remote tribal village on the suspicion of being black magic practitioners.

However, the order will have to be sent to Orissa High Court for referral within six months. The high court will then give its verdict on the order.

A group of villagers murdered Asina Sabar, 48, his wife Ambei, 40, their daughter Asmani, 26, of Kitum village in the district's Putasing police limits on September 9, 2016.

The judge, Subendhu Kumar Pati, ordered death penalty for convicts Ajanta Sabara, Bhubana Sabara, Malku Sabara, Podantu Sabara, Iru Sabara, Lakia Sabara, Degun Sabara, Dasanta Sabara and Dalsa Sabara. A minor had also been arrested in the case.

"At present, the juvenile is facing trial in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Rayagada," said additional public prosecutor Krushna Chandra Senapati.

Arrests in the case were made after Malati, 22, the younger daughter of the murdered couple and the only eyewitness to the crime, had on September 16, 2016, registered a case with police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2013.

"The court examined 11 witnesses and took circumstantial evidence into account before pronouncing the judgment," said Senapati.

Tracing the genesis of the crime, sources said that a few villagers of Kitum had succumbed to various diseases in August and September 2016.

The villagers attributed the deaths to the alleged practice of black magic by the Sabar family. They suspected the family of casting an evil influence on the fellow villagers.

"We will move the high court challenging the verdict of the lower court," said Uma Charan Patnaik, counsel of the convicts.