Bhubaneswar, Oct 13 (IANS): A court in Odisha has awarded death sentence to two people for murdering a woman and her teenaged daughter in Nuapada district in February last year, a lawyer said Saturday.

District and sessions judge Madhusudan Dhal of Nuapada town, about 545 km from here, awarded the sentence Friday to Manoj Bhoi (24) and Motilal Barik (23) for killing Sahebini Mirdha (40) and her 16-year-old daughter Kaushalya.

According to public prosecutor Muralidhar Panda, Bhoi and Barik attacked the Mirdha family with sharp-edged weapons at their house in Sinamunda village on the night of Feb 2 last year.

The duo demanded Rs.30,000 from Sahebini and attacked her family after she refused to pay them, Panda said.

While the woman died on the spot, her daughter succumbed to injuries later in hospital.

Sahebini's two sons also sustained injuries, Panda said.

Describing the crime as "the rarest of the rare", judge Madhusudan Dhal awarded death sentence to the men, he said.

It was the second death sentence awarded by courts in Odisha this month.

On Oct 8, B.P. Routray, district and sessions judge of district headquarters of Sambalpur, about 315 km from here, had awarded death to a man for raping and murdering a girl.