Bhubaneswar, May 24 -- A sessions court on Saturday sentenced 19 people, including a former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) functionary, to life imprisonment in connection with a 2016 triple murder and arson case in Odisha's Nabarangpur district. The case stems from the murder of Dalit farmer and folk theatre artist Balaram Harijan on July 16, 2016, near his home in Nabarangpur following a dispute over a nine-acre patch of forest land. The clash was the culmination of escalating tensions in the area after tribal residents planted acacia and eucalyptus saplings on the land, which Balaram allegedly uprooted. On July 16, 2016, a group of tribal residents sent two locals, Phagunu Bhatra and Gurubaru Bhatra, to question Balaram who attacked the duo with a knife, killing Phagunu on the spot. Gurubaru sustained grievous injuries and later succumbed to them. A mob of hundreds of villagers then gathered outside Balaram's house, pelting stones and setting the structure ablaze. As Balaram attempted to escape by jumping from the roof, the mob lynched him. Two separate cases were registered -- one relating to the killings of the tribal men and the other concerning the lynching and arson targeting Balaram. Following a trial spanning nearly a decade, the sessions court convicted 19 people and imprisoned them for life....