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Massive combing operation underway to find Dara Singh

A combined combing operation has been launched in the tribal dominated Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts to nab Dara Singh and his gang, suspected to be involved in Thursday's killing of a Muslim youth at Padiabeda weekly market under Thakurmunda police station in Mayurbhanj.

Inspector general of police (law and order) Amarananda Patnaik said three companies of armed police were engaged in the combing operation carried out from both Thakurmunda and Keonjhar sides of the border which had been sealed after the incident.

Denying a rumour that Dara Singh was arrested by the police, Patnaik said the police yesterday picked up three persons from the spot for questioning and their interrogation was still on.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang, along with several cabinet colleagues today airdashed to Mayurbhanj for an on the spot study of the situation. Though he had taken the flight for a visit to the spot yesterday afternoon, he had to return to the state capital Bhubaneswar because of bad weather. The state government had sanctioned an ex-gratia of Rs 200,000 and a job to the family of the victim, Sheikh Rehman (32) who was allegedly set on fire by Dara Singh and about 15 of his armed supporters in his makeshift readymade garment shop in the weekly market.

Sources said necessary police protection had been provided to the gramrakhi, Mukunda Nayak who had lodged an FIR with the Thakurmunda police station alleging that it was Dara Singh who led the gang and threw the victim in the fire after causing multiple injuries on his body.

The IG said though tension prevailed in the area, the situation was well under control following several rounds of meeting between the district authorities and the local representatives belonging to different communities. There was no untoward incident after the murder case, he claimed, adding that all possible measures had been taken by the district authorities to defuse communal tension in the region.

Rehman was buried last evening at Thakurmunda amidst tight police bandobast after a post-mortem.

Earlier, the local people had taken the body forcibly from the Karanjia sub-divisional hospital and refused to hand it over to the police demanding an immediate visit by the chief minister to the area and the culprits' arrest.

The agitators, who also gheraoed the sub-collector's office since Thursday, withdrew their agitation after the district authorities assured them of the chief minister's visit to the area and all possible steps to arrest the miscreants. The police had also pressed sniffer dogs into service but it yielded no result.

State director general of police Dilip Kumar Mohapatra, who is camping in the area since yesterday, is enquiring into the whole incident following an order of the state government. The DGP was likely to submit his report to the government today. Informed sources said barring the village watchman Nayak, no one had yet came forward to record his statement against Dara Singh, although a large number of people had witnessed the ghastly murder in broad daylight.

Dara Singh carries a reward of Rs 600,000 offered by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the orissa government for being the prime accused in the killing of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two minor sons in the remote Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district on January 22 last.

UNI

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