Graham Staines Murder: CBI Arrests One More Accused After 20 Years

Balasore: Twenty years after the murder of 58-year-old Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons, CBI arrested another accused from a village in Mayurbhanj district on Friday night.

Acting on a tip-off, the central investigating agency arrested Buddhadeb Naik (45) from his house at Nischitpur near Thakurmunda. Naik had been absconding since the day of the murders.

Police said he is one of the closest associates of prime accused Dara Singh, who is serving a life term.

The incident had occurred on the night of January 22, 1999 at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district. A group of Bajrang Dal activists led by Dara Singh had set fire to a station wagon in which Staines and his two sons, Philip (10) and Timothy (7), were sleeping.

In 2003, a CBI court awarded the death penalty to Dara Singh and life term to 12 others. However, the Orissa High Court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005.

In 2011, the Supreme Court upheld the HC order.