Bhubaneswar, Sept 22: Bringing the curtains down on the four-and-a-half-year-old trial of the gruesome killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two Mino Singh, the mastermind behind the carnage, to death by hanging and awarded life imprisonment to 12 others. The district and sessions judge, Khurda, M N Patnaik, who had held the 13 guilty of the crime a week ago, awarded the quantum of punishment in a jam-packed court here.

All the convicts were tried under Section 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly in prosecution of a common object), 435 and 436 (committing mischief by fire or explosive substance) and 302 (murder) of the IPC.

The designated CBI court, which had separately tried Dara Singh alias Ravinder Kumar Pal under Section 302 of IPC and awarded the him the death sentence, said it was subject to confirmation by the high court.

Besides Dara, those convicted and sentenced were Rajat Kumar Das alias Dipu Das, Mahendra Hembam, Renta Hembram, Ojen Hansda, Kartik Lohar, Rabi Soren, Dayanidhi Patra, Mahadev Mahanta, Harish Mahanta, Thuram Ho, Surath Nayak and Umakanta Bhoi.
The court had acquitted Aniruddha Dandapat alias Andha Nayak for lack of sufficient evidence against him.

The CBI, which investigated the case, had chargesheeted 18 persons, of whom three are still absconding.

Bureau Report