Following is the chronology of events leading to the Orissa high court's verdict in the Graham Staines case:
January 22, 1999: Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons, Philip and Timothy, burnt to
death when asleep in a station wagon by a crowd of people at Manoharpur village in Orissa's Keonjhar district.
June 22, 1999 : CBI chargesheets 18 persons including Dara Singh, alias Ravindra Kumar Pal, in the case.
January 31, 2000 : Dara Singh arrested by the police in the jungles of Mayurbhanj district.
September 4, 2000 : charges framed against the accused persons in the court of the district and sessions judge, Khurda, M N Patnaik.
March 1, 2001 : trial in the case begins.
August 18, 2003 : trial comes to an end. A total number of 55 witnesses examined by the court.
September 22, 2003: the district and sessions judge, Khurda, M N Patnaik convicts 13 of the 18 accused persons while acquitting Aniruddha Danadapat alias Andha Nayak. Dara Singh is sentenced to death while the 12 others are sentenced to life imprisonment. Four of the accused persons are still at large.
October 10, 2003 : Dara Singh appeals against the verdict of the lower court in the Orissa High Court. Other convicts
follow suit.
June 2004 : hearing in the case starts in high court.
October 6, 2004 : court reserves its judgement in the case.
May 19, 2005 : Orissa High Court commutes Dara's death sentence to life imprisonment and retains the life imprisonment of Mahendra Hembram. The other 11, who were awarded life imprisonment were acquitted.
More from rediff