CBI accused of delaying Staines' trial, re-examines witness list By Jatindra Dash, Indo-Asian News Service
Bhubaneswar, June 13 (IANS) With the defence accusing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of delaying the case of murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his minor sons in Orissa, the investigating agency has decided to call only key witnesses. The CBI is examining its list of witnesses, its supervising officer said. Staines and his two sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, were burnt alive on January 22, 1999, while sleeping in a van in Manoharpur village in the northern district of Keonjhar. The CBI charged 18 people with the murders. The main accused is Dara Singh, alleged to be a Hindu fanatic. Currently, the CBI has nearly 106 witnesses. But it has produced only 38 of them, said a defence lawyer. Bana Bihari Mohanty, the lawyer, also said that the CBI produced Gladys Staines, Staines' widow, for cross-examination Wednesday though she was not an eyewitness. She told the court she had no direct knowledge about the incident. "My husband did not return to Baripada (the headquarters of Mayurbhanj, another northern district) from the jungle camp," she said. "On January 23, around 9.30 a.m., I was told my husband and children had been killed." She said Staines was a secretary of the Australian Evangelical Missionary Society providing medical treatment and rehabilitation to leprosy patients in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar. According to Mohanty, the CBI has not produced or listed two key witnesses who accompanied the Staines to Manoharpur and spent the night there. They are Subhankar Ghose, another Christian priest, and Gilbert Veinz. "We are going to file a petition seeking court intervention," Mohanty said. "The CBI is deliberately delaying the case." The trial began in the capital in March 2001. On several occasions, either the defence lawyers didn't turn up or the prosecution failed to produce its witnesses. The trial was halted last year when Surat Nayak, another accused, didn't appear on the ground that he had tuberculosis, followed by a hunger strike by Dara Singh, protesting against the poor living conditions in the Bhubaneswar jail where he was held. The next hearing is on Monday. --Indo-Asian News Service =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
