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Dara Singh 'burns' minority youth

Dara Singh, the prime accused in the killing of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two sons in Keonjhar district of Orissa, has allegedly struck again.

He burnt a youth of a minority community to death at Padiabeda village in the adjoining Mayurbhanj district yesterday.

The youth, identified as Sheikh Rehman, a readymade garment shop owner, was allegedly attacked by Dara Singh and about 20 of his supporters armed with axes, bows and arrows. He was later set on fire in his makeshift shop, the police said.

The police said Rehman, who was admitted to the Karanjia hospital with serious burns, succumbed to the injuries around 2200 hours yesterday.

State Director General of Police Dilip Kumar Mohapatra and Home Secretary Sahadev Sahoo had rushed to the spot with three platoons of armed police as tension mounted in the area.

The state government today announced an extra ex-gratia payment of Rs 100,000 to the family of the victim.

Claiming that the situation was under control, Special Inspector General of Police B B Mohanty said that no one had been arrested in this connection so far.

Mohanty did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of Dara Singh saying that since the matter was under investigation, no conclusion could be made at this stage.

While some had linked the murder to previous enmity between two groups, others claimed it to be a sequel to a dispute over the sale of beef in the area, he added.

Sources said Mayurbhanj Collector R Balakrishnan and Superintendent of Police Pradeep Kapoor were camping in the area and a manhunt had been launched in the border areas of two tribal-dominated districts of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar to nab the culprits.

According to reports received in Cuttack, the armed miscreants entered the village at 1630 hours and severed both the hands of the victim with an axe, allegedly being carried by Dara Singh himself. Rehman, who also suffered multiple injuries, was then thrown into his own blazing shop.

After the miscreants left the scene, one Mukund Nayak, a witness to the ghastly incident, informed the police alleging that Dara Singh had committed the crime with his supporters.

The police immediately shifted Rehman to a hospital but to no avail.

The body was yesterday forcibly taken by the local people from the hospital and kept before the office of the sub-collector.

When contacted the home secretary said the collector and the superintendent of police were persuading the agitators to release the body for post-mortem.

As per the preliminary investigation, the home secretary said there were lots of similarities between the Staines murder and yesterday's incident.

Sources said Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang and Minister of State for Home Prasad Harichandan were likely to visit the village this afternoon.

UNI

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