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Imran Khan in Bhubaneswar
The trial of Dara Singh, prime accused in the gruesome murder of the Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two minor sons, was adjourned on Wednesday till September 3.
The Khurda district sessions judge Mahendra Nath Patnaik announced the deferment due to absence of two other accused in the case, Ozan Hansdar and Surat Nayak, who reported sick.
The court was informed that Nayak was suffering from viral fever and cough, and was admitted to a hospital.
Earlier, the trial had been postponed to August 8 due to sickness of three other accused persons.
This month, the trial has gone on for only two days.
Earlier, in view of the slow speed of the trial the court on Wednesday advised the defence counsels and the prosecution counsels to sit together and find out ways for smooth conduct of the trial.
The Orissa High Court had directed the sessions court to conduct the trial in the first twenty days of every month.
But trial has been jinxed from the beginning.
In May last year, the trial was adjourned after the Central Bureau of Investigation witness Mathai Marandi suffered sunstroke.
In June, the trial got deferred due to an indefinite hunger strike by Dara Singh demanding a ceiling fan in his cell.
While in July the trial was adjourned due to absence of senior defence counsel Shayamanand Mahapatra in the court due to death of his mother.
It may be recalled that last month Justice Patnaik expressed his unhappiness over the repeated adjournment of the Staines murder trial.
At that time he had made it clear to the defence counsels that from next month onwards he will not compromise in trial process.
Meanwhile, Dara Singh was sent back to Baripada jail with tight security. He was brought to Bhubaneswar Jail on July 28 last in view of the case trial.
Singh has been lodged in the Baripada jail since January last year when he was arrested by the Orissa police in connection with the Staines murder case.
Staines was burnt to death on January 22, 1999 at Manoharpur in Keonjhar district allegedly by the self-styled Hindu fanatic Dara Singh and his associates.
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