HC commutes death for Dara to life

Indicating shortcomings in investigation with regard to the identification of miscreants and procuring confessional statements, the bench said, ‘‘We cannot accept the investigation to be an impartial one…There are circumstances to show the confessional statements of Umakanta Bhoi (an accused) must have been secured by coercion, duress and threat.’’

The court also took exception to the manner in which the test identification parade was conducted by the CBI. A CBI officers who also is a prosecution witness admitted that he had shown the photograph of Bhoi to Mathai Marandi seven days before the parade.

Those who were acquitted by the court today include Dayanidhi Patra, Umakanta Bhoi, Kartik Lohar, Rabi Soren, Mahadeb Mahanta, Thuram Ho, Renta Hembrum, Suresh Hansda, Surath Naik, Harischandra Mahanta and Rajat Kumar Das.

Dara Singh’s lawyer told reporters he will now approach the Supreme Court seeking his client’s acquittal. ‘‘I am very happy at the outcome, but I will go to the SC for acquittal,’’ he quoted Dara as saying.

CBI counsel Suryakanta Padhi said the judgment was not a setback to the agency’s efforts. ‘‘Dara’s conviction has been upheld,’’ said Padhi, adding that whether they would take up the matter in the apex court would be examined at the appropriate level.

Staines’ wife Gladys refused to comment on the judgment. ‘‘No comments for today. I have already said what I wanted to say earlier,’’ Gladys told PTI by phone from Townsville, Australia.

Staines, who ran a leprosy home at Baripada, and his two sons were burnt to death when the station wagon in which they were asleep was set ablaze by a mob on January 22, 1999. The trial court had awarded capital punishment to Dara Singh and life imprisonment to 12 others on September 22, 2003.