49 held, search for key suspect on

KEONJHAR, JAN 24: The Orissa Government has announced a cash award of Rs 25,000 for any information on Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Sing...

KEONJHAR, JAN 24: The Orissa Government has announced a cash award of Rs 25,000 for any information on Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, suspected to have masterminded the gruesome killing of an Australian missionary and his two sons at Manoharpur on Friday. Singh, a resident of Etawah district in Uttar Pradesh, was active in mobilising people in the area since ten years, the director general of police, DGP, BB Panda, said.

Panda told this paper that over 50 people, suspected to be activists of the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad were involved in the incident and so far 49 persons have been arrested. The DGP, however, declined to provide details of the arrested. He said raids are still going on in areas under Thakurmunda, Karanjia and Keonjhar police stations. Four platoons of police force have been deployed in the village and two more platoons have been stationed at Ghasipura, a nearby village.

Squarely blaming the local intelligence for its failure to keep tab on the operation of Singh, theDGP said that he had been operating in the districts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Balasore for the last ten years. It is a failure of the intelligence, he said.

A senior police officer said that few of the arrested are college students. He did not rule out the hands of some local people in the incident.Meanwhile, general secretary of All-India Congress Committee, Madhavrao Scindia, has air-dashed to the spot on the directive of the party president Sonia Gandhi for an on-the-spot study of the situation. Revenue Minister Jagannath Patnaik has accompanied Scindia.

Scindia who arrived in a special flight was received at Biju Patnaik airport in Bhubaneswar, by the Chief Minister JB Patnaik and member of Parliament Jayanti Patnaik.

Condemning the incident, Chief minister JB Patnaik, who visited the spot on Saturday, told newsmen that this is the action of some religious fanatics8217;. He said strong action would be taken against the miscreants. Patnaik who stayed in the spot for nearly two hours, assured helpfrom the State administration to the villagers.

Patnaik informed that the police had procured a photo of the leader of the gang, Dara Singh. The photograph of Singh has already been released to the press and electronic media to facilitate his arrest.

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Patnaik, said the police and intelligence agencies have been alerted throughout the State to ensure full protection of the minorities, particularly the Christians.

A police outpost has been sanctioned at Manoharpur, he said, adding, he had already sent a report on the situation and steps taken by his government to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Union Home Minister LK Advani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The law of the land would not spare such persons and everyone involved in this unfortunate incident would be booked, he said while assuring that the minorities living in the State would be provided full protection.

The bodies of Staines and his two sons were brought to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack for forensic test. The bodieswill be laid to rest tomorrow at Baripada.