A local court in Odisha's Keonjhar district on Tuesday awarded death sentence to five accused in the rape and murder of a minor girl in Beklundi village of the district in 2012.

Stating the quantum of sentence, Champua Additional District and Sessions Judge court gave death sentence to the five accused.

On the day of the crime, the victim did not come back home from morning tuition at Barbil basti. Following this, the family members started a desperate search and found her body with injury marks about one kilometer from the village.

As per the reports, the deceased, a Class VIII student of a high school in Barbil, was attacked by some people earlier also but her family had not taken the matter seriously.

While five of the accused were given death sentence, two others accused in the case are yet to be seized by the police.

The sentenced are Mata Munda, Mangal Prusty, Jiten Munda, Harjit Singh and Biswanath Munda.