Orissa HC upholds Dara Singh’s life term for killing Catholic priest

CUTTACK : The Orissa high court has upheld the life imprisonment of Dara Singh and three others handed down by a trial court for the murder of Father Arul Das.
The catholic priest was killed by an arrow when he was trying to escape after his church at Jamubani in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha was set on fire on September 1, 1999. The court of district judge, Baripada, had convicted Dara Singh in the murder case on September 23, 2007.
Besides Dara, the trial court had found Jadunath Mohanto, Chema Ho and Rajkishore Mohanto guilty after examining 23 witnesses during the hearing of the case, which started on September 8, 2004.
All four had challenged their conviction in the high court by filing a criminal appeal on October 30, 2007. While the high court granted bail to Chema and Jadunath, the Supreme Court approved the bail plea of Rajkishore. The criminal appeal was pending all these years till the high court disposed it of on Wednesday.
Dara was arrested in January 2000 after a year-long search in the case of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his minor sons, Philip and Timothy, who were burnt to death outside a church at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district on January 22, 1999. He has since been in prison.
Dara, in fact, executed the murder of Father Arul Das after he absconded following the killings of the Staines.