Mayurbhanj, September 20, 2019: A man wanted in the killing of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines has been arrested 20 years and nine months later.
The sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation nabbed Buddhadev Nayak on September 19 from Nischitapur village under Thakurmunda police station in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.
Staines, a missionary of the Evangelical Church, was torched to death along with his two sons- Philip (10) and Timothy (6), on January 22, 1999, inside their vehicle at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district.
Nayak is reportedly a close associate of the main accused of the murder, Dara Singh who is currently lodged at Thakurmunda Jail after being sentenced to life imprisonment by the Orissa High Court.
Acting on a tipoff, a team of CBI from Kolkata reached Nayak’s house.
The officials took Nayak to Thakurmunda Community Health Centre for medical examination and subsequently brought him to the CBI headquarters at Bhubaneswar on September 20.
The CBI officials grilled Nayak on other persons involved in the murder case.
Staines and his sons were killed while they were sleeping inside their car after attending a jungle camp, an annual gathering of the local Christians. They were reportedly burnt by a group of men who suspected him of carrying out conversions of the tribal people in the region.
Source: odishatv.in