M A I N   N E W S

Staines killer Dara nabbed

BARIPADA, Feb 1 (PTI, UNI) — Fugitive Dara Singh, on the run since the cold-blooded killing of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons over a year ago, walked into a police trap in the dense forest of Guhari in Orissa, about 170 km from here, in the wee hours today, senior police officials said.

Dara, alias Rabindra Kumar Pal, prime accused in the ghastly murder and carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head, was nabbed by a special police team when he reached the forest to purchase a gun from a contact person, Mayurbhanj SP Y.P. Khurania, who led the police team said.

The contact man had sometime back managed to persuade Dara to buy a gun in view of the police manhunt launched against him. The fugitive arrived at the spot at an appointed time for his gun where the SP and his team caught him.

The cops had to walk about 11 km on foot to nab the fugitive, the police said adding the duo was later taken to Karanjia and from there to Baripada under armed police escort.

One of his associates was also arrested along with Dara but his identity is yet to be known, Mr Khurania said.

Dara was brought to the Kuliana police station, near Baripada, where he was quizzed by a team of CBI officials who had rushed there from Calcutta.

“He is confessing to all crimes, including the Manoharpur incident and the killing of a Muslim trader in Padiabeda in Mayurbhanj district during interrogation”, DIG, northern range, Mr Sushil Pradhan, told mediapersons here tonight.

Mr Pradhan said Dara did not make any mention about his links with any political party or persons.

Staines and his two sons Philip (10) and Timothy (7) were burnt alive in their vehicle on the night of January 22, 1999, in front of a church in Manoharpur in Keonjhar district by a frenzied mob led by Dara.

The missionary, who had worked among leprosy patients in Mayurbhanj for about three decades, had been to Manoharpur to attend a jungle camp and was sleeping inside the vehicle with his sons when he was done to death.

A few days later a catholic priest Arul Doss was pierced to death at Jamubani, an inaccessible village a few kilometres away from Padiabeda, allegedly by Dara and his gang.

During the past one year, Dara had several close encounters with the police, but each time he managed to give the slip leaving only some clothes, toothbrush, medicines, and a bundle of bidis.

However, 14 of his associates were arrested in the past one year. Besides Dara, 17 others have been chargesheeted by CBI, which had been entrusted with the investigation of the case.

The D.P. Wadhwa Commission, which probed the ghastly incident, has held it as an act of an individual (Dara Singh) who had no affiliation with any organisation.

Very few people, except inhabitants of villages located on either side of the Mayurbhanj-Keonjhar border, were not even aware of the Dara’s name till he emerged as a villain of the Manoharpur tragedy, the police said.

Till then Dara and his associates were engaged in petty crimes and snatching of cattle from Muslim traders and giving them to the villagers, the police said.

About a dozen cases are pending against Dara Singh and his gang in the two districts in this connection.

Gladys Staines, the grief-stricken widow of the Australian missionary, had pleaded forgiveness for her husband and sons’ killers after the tragedy.

“I have forgiven them (the killers). My only desire is that Dara Singh does not kill anymore and stops fighting against God,” she had told a gathering at Mumbai two days ago while inaugurating a book “Burnt Alive: The Staines and the God They Loved”.

According to a Bangalore report, Gladys Staines, reacting to the arrest of Dara Singh said, “I am happy that he (Dara Singh) has been caught and now he cannot kill any more people,” she told reporters soon after hearing of the arrest.

Asked what punishment she expected the accused to get, Gladys said she was not concerned what kind of punishment the killers of her husband and two minor sons would be awarded and left the matter “to court and law”.

She is in Bangalore for a medical check-up.

Gladys said she was not afraid of any threat of attack. She said she was not concentrating on the ongoing probe into the incident and was engaged in providing solace to leprosy patients.

She said “Now God is in control of the situation, I will leave everything to him”.

The SP’s version, however, was contradicted by Orissa Director-General of Police B.B. Panda who told newsmen in Cuttack that the special police team raided the fugitive’s hideout on the foothills of Bandaria hills, about 2 km from Guhira village.

Jagannath Munda, who used to shelter Dara, was also arrested, but another person present at the spot managed to escape, the SP said.

The DGP said a school teacher Trinath Mahanta, who was also harbouring Dara, had been taken into custody.

About 2000 curious onlookers gathered outside the Kuliana police station to have a glimpse of Dara but had to return disappointed as he was kept under tight security.

A reporter, who managed to go inside, found clean shaven Dara having snacks provided by the police.

The police seized a bag from Dara. The bag contained a Hanuman Chalisa, a soap, some sugar, onions, medicines, turmeric powder and Rs 20, the police said.

Meanwhile, a three-member Orissa crime branch team today left for Baripada to interrogate Dara Singh.

The team would be led by Deputy Inspector-General of Police V. Tyagarajan.