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Paul Murmu, a 52-year-old witness in the sensational Staines murder case, told a court on Saturday that he saw a bearded man resembling Dara Singh, the main accused, beating the vehicle in which Staines and his two sons were sleeping in front of a church.
Paul said that the killers were shouting slogans Jai Bajrang Bali ki and Dara Singh ki jai after executing the crime on the night of January 23, 1999.
Paul Murmu was the third witness produced by the Central Bureau of Investigation before the District and Session Judge of Khurda in connection with the killing of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons Philip and Timothy at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district on January 23, 1999.
The trial began on March 1.
Paul Murmu, who had accompanied Staines to Manoharpur, stated that he knew Staines for 17 years. "I was closed to Staines saheb," he said.
Paul, a Christian tribal, told the court that on that fateful night he was sleeping in a hutment near the church with Nimai Hansdar, Staines' driver.
"I woke up on hearing sounds of banging and came out of the hutment. I saw about 60 to 70 persons had surrounded the vehicle in which Stains and his sons were sleeping," he said during cross-examination.
"I saw three men beating the vehicle and breaking the glass of the vehicle. Among them, one was bearded man," he said.
When CBI counsel probed further about that bearded man, Paul said he resembled Dara Singh.
Witnesses have confirmed that Dara Singh sported a beard around the time when Graham Staines was killed.
Paul said that among the three men was a short man who took the straw lying above the vehicle and put it below before the vehicle was set on fire.
"They shouted Jai Bajrang Bali ki jaiand Dara Singh ki jai ," he stated.
"After they fled, I tried to douse the flames but did not succeeded and later lost consciousness due to shock," he said.
On Friday, another CBI witness Basi Tudu stated that those who burnt Staines to death shouted Jai Bajrang Bali ki jai and Dara Singh ki jai.
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