More than four years after Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burnt alive while asleep in their station wagon in an Orissa village, prime accused Dara Singh and 12 others were today convicted by the Bhubaneswar district and sessions judge. The hearing on the quantum of punishment and award of sentence has been posted to September 22. The Staines murder case, which shocked the nation and gave India a bad name abroad, was closely followed during the trial stage. Working in Orissa since 1965, Graham and his two minor sons Philip (11) and Timothy (7), were asleep in their station wagon — the incident took place on the night of January 22, 1999 outside a church in Keonjhar’s Manoharpur village — when it was torched. Graham’s widow Gladys today declined comment on the conviction of the 13 accused. ‘‘I have no comment to make on today’s verdict,’’ she said, reiterating that she had forgiven the killers of her husband and two children. She said she would endeavour to fulfil the incomplete work of her husband who served among the leprosy afflicted people of Mayurbhanj district. Earlier, delivering the verdict in a packed court room, judge M N Patnaik acquitted Aniruddha Dandapat alias Andha Nayak for lack of sufficient evidence against him. A diplomat of the Australian High Commission in India, Mark Webslor, who was present in the court, expressed his satisfaction over the judgement: ‘‘The Australian government had taken keen interest in the case and I have come here on behalf of the High Commission. I came to hear the verdict and will intimate the Australian government.’’ The trial judge convicted Dara Singh alias Ravindra Kumar Pal and the other 12 accused under IPC sections relating to conspiracy, unlawful assembly, burning of vehicle and house, and murder. Apart from Dara, those convicted were Rajat Kumar Das alias Dipu Das, Mahendra Hembram, Renta Hembram, Ojen Hansda, Kartik Lohar, Rabi Soren, Dayanidhi Patra, Mahadev Mahanta, Harish Mahanta, Thuram Ho, Surath Nayak and Umakanta Bhoi. All the accused, who were on bail, were present in the court when the judgement was pronounced. CBI counsel K Sudhakar described the verdict as a ‘‘victory’’ but defence counsel Bana Mohanty said justice had not been done in the case. ‘‘We will challenge the verdict in the higher court,’’ he told newsmen. Ahead of the verdict, police took into preventive custody two persons outside the court premises. One of them identified himself as R K Bharadwaj, claiming he was president of the Manuvadi Krantikari Morcha. There was tight security outside the court and even reporters were frisked before being allowed entry. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC had been clamped on the Bhubaneswar-Puri highway outside the court and in the adjoining area. The CBI had chargesheeted 18 persons in the case of whom three — Ghanshyam Mahanta, Ramajan Mahanta and Budhi Nayak — were still absconding. A juvenile accused, Chenchu Hansda, had already been convicted by a juvenile court and sent to a probation home. Dara, who is facing trial in two other major cases in Mayurbhanj district — murder of a Catholic priest Arul Doss at Jamubani village on September 1, 1999 and slaying of Sheikh Rehman, a Muslim trader, in Padiabeda in August 1999, had been absconding for over a year after the Manoharpur incident. He was nabbed in a forest on January 31, 2000.
