Not the end for history-sheeter

BARIPADA: While Staines triple murder case trial against Dara Singh alias Ravindra Pal Singh of Etawah (Uttar Pradesh) has come to a conclusion, many more trials still await him and his other accomplices in a series of criminal cases.
These cases are now in various stages of hearing in the courts of sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) Karanjia and in the sessions court at Baripada.These crimes involving Dara Singh and his accomplices were reported from the densely forested and difficult terrains located in the two neighbouring tribal dominated districts of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar. These places were better known as Dara''s territory where he was endeared as saviour of cattle and the Hindu religion. The trial in the Graham Staines Murder Case took nearly two-and-a-half years spread over 117 dates of hearing in the Court of Mahendra Nath Patnaik, District and Sessions Judge, Khurda.
According to Intelligence sources, a large group of ''Dara fans'' drawn from Thakurmunda, Karanjia and other far-flung areas left for Bhubaneswar on Sunday to listen to the court verdict slated to be delivered on Monday. They may hold a rally at Bhubaneswar after they reach the capital, sources added. There is no tension in the Dara territory, but we are on alert, sources indicated.
The case related to the grisly murder of the Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines, and his two minor sons, Philip and Timothy shortly after midnight of Friday-Saturday (January 22-23,1999). It was a day for the worship of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom. Graham and his two minor sons were burnt alive while they were asleep in a station wagon parked in front of the Church at Manoharpur in Keonjhar district.
Other important criminal cases involving Dara Singh included the murder of the Muslim trader Sheikh Rahaman, a readymade garment dealer on 26 August, 1999 coincidently on a Hindu festival day called ''Rakhi Poornima.'' Sheikh Rahaman was flung inside an inferno caused by setting the shops at the Padiabeda weekly haat (market) ablaze. And thus Rahaman too was burnt alive.
In yet another sensational case, Father Arul Doss, a priest in the Jambani Church located in the dense forested region under Mahuldiha police station area was shot with bows and arrows and killed on September 2, 1999. A criminal case No.34 under section 302 IPC involving Dara Singh and his accomplices was registered at the Mahuldiha police station in Mayurbhanj district, police sources said.
Earlier on August 16, 1999, Dara Singh and his accomplices were involved in holding up a truck near Kendumundi on Thakurmunda-Karanjia Road, and set it ablaze. Before burning the truck, Dara had allegedly released the cows that were being transported in the said truck by a Muslim trader. A case No.91/99 was now pending in the court of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Karanjia, police sources added.