CBI today arrested two more accused in connection with the case in which Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt alive by a mob in Odisha in 1999.
The two, identified as Ghanshyam Mahanta and Ramjan Mahanta, were picked up from Anandpur area in Odisha's Keonjhar district by CBI sleuths in the early hours, Anandpur police station inspector in-charge Abhay Shankar Kar said.
While Ghanshyam was arrested from Gayalamunda village, Ramjan was nabbed from nearby Bhaludhera, he said, adding that the duo was taken to Bhubaneswar.
"Both the accused were taken to CBI office in Bhubaneswar and interrogated by investigators," B K Pradhan, DSP in Special Cell of CBI, Kolkata told reporters in Bhubaneswar.
Pradhan said the duo would be produced before the special CBI court shortly.
Staines, along with his two minor sons Philip and Timothy, was burnt alive on January 22, 1999 by a mob while they were asleep in their station wagon at Manoharpur village in Odisha's Keonjhar district.
Bajrang Dal member Dara Singh and 12 others were held guilty of the crime. On September 22, 2003 a special court awarded death sentence to Dara Singh and life imprisonment to 12 others.
However, Orissa High Court on May 19, 2005 set aside the death sentence to Dara Singh and commuted it to life term. The high court retained life imprisonment awarded to Mahendra Hembram, another accused, while acquitting 11 others.
On January 21, 2011, the Supreme Court upheld life term for Dara Singh by the Orissa High Court and his accomplice Hembram.
