Chenchu was an ardent Dara follower, say police

BHUBANESWAR/KEONJHAR, OCT 5: Thirteen-year-old Sudarshan Hansda alias Chenchu, who was recently sentenced to life in the infamous Staines'...

BHUBANESWAR/KEONJHAR, OCT 5: Thirteen-year-old Sudarshan Hansda alias Chenchu, who was recently sentenced to life in the infamous Staines’ killings, was reportedly an ardent follower of Dara Singh, the prime accused. The police also claim that, though merely a boy, Chenchu was aware of Dara’s hatred for members of the local minority communities, and had accompanied the latter and his group to where the Australian missionary and his two sons were murdered on the night of January 22, 1999, at their urging.

However, according to police records, Chenchu was never involved in assaults on local Muslim cattle traders and burning of trucks transporting cattle, for which Dara and his associates are blamed. “The boy was not involved in any crime before, except accompanying Dara and his men on the night when Staines and his sons were burnt to death,” District Superintendent of Police, Keonjhar, A.K. Ray told The Indian Express.

A Class VII dropout from Manoharpur Upper Primary School in Keonjhar district, Chenchu was a cowherd till he met Dara and his men in late 1998. It was their love for cows that reportedly brought them together. With his father, a daily labourer, and mother out for most part of the day collecting firewood, there was no one to look after Chenchu, and his social contacts were limited. So the boy was easily influenced by Dara. The Makara festival held annually on the Bhimkund bank of Baitarani river in January further brought them closer.

Chenchu was picked up from his home by the Keonjhar police on January 23, 1999, afternoon — the day after the Staines were murdered — and was questioned at the Anandpur Police Station. Chenchu, however, feigned ignorance about the killing and was released.

But when he absconded from his village soon after his release, the police’s suspicions were strengthened. An associate of Dara was arrested during a joint raid by the state police and CBI a month after the Staines’ killing, and during his interrogation, the police recovered a letter written to Dara having Chenchu’s signature along with others. This convinced the police that Chenchu was involved in the Staines killings.

Now lodged in jail, the tribal boy seems to have taken the life sentence verdict rather calmly, say officials of the Observation and Special Home for Juveniles at Berhampur. They add that Chenchu, who has expressed neither grief nor despair, seems to believe he will be released by a higher court, and has told fellow inmates that. Chenchu has been at the Berhampur centre since his arrest, but today morning, he was shifted to Juvenile Home in Angul. To start serving the first year of a life sentence.