A judge today began hearing witnesses in the trial of the mob murder of an Australian missionary and his two sons in an eastern Indian state two years ago.
Graham Staines, 58, and his sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, eight, were burned alive inside the jeep where they were sleeping after a Bible study meeting in the village of Manoharpur in the eastern state of Orissa.
Thakurdas Murmu, headman of Manoharpur, was questioned by a government prosecutor and cross-examined by the defence counsel in the court of District Judge Mahendranath Patnaik.
Dara Singh, the main defendant, and 12 others, also accused of involvement in the murder that took place on January 23, 1999, were present in the courtroom when Murmu was questioned.
Staines' killing followed a series of attacks on churches and Christian missionary institutions in several Indian states that began in 1998. Hindu fanatics attacked churches after whipping up a campaign against missionaries whom they accused of converting impoverished Indians to Christianity.
Christians represent about 2 per cent of India's 1 billion people.
During questioning, Murmu told the court that Hindus and Christians had been living amicably in the village before the murder.
"It is not a fact that there were disputes between Christians and Hindus just before the murder of Staines," he said.
Murmu told the court he rushed to Manoharpur on the morning of the murder, after a neighbour told him about a fire. He found three charred dead bodies inside a burnt vehicle. The police reached the site soon afterward, he said.
"I do not know why Staines was murdered," Murmu said.
The trial has been repeated delayed after defence lawyers argued that they needed more time to examine the statements of witnesses recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's top investigating agency.
The questioning of the witnesses in the trial is scheduled to continue until March 5