Bhubaneswar, April 7: PARVATI Hembrum, 20, prosecution witness in the triple murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons, on Friday failed to identify Ojen Hansda, one of the 13 accused and charge-sheeted in the killing by the CBI. This, despite her claim that Ojen’s mother and her mother were sisters and he was her first cousin.
The district and session court has been appointed the trial court in Staines’ murder case by the Orissa High Court.
Deposing before the court of District and Sessions Judge Mahendra Nath Patnaik, Parvati said on January 22, 1999, a group of people attacked Staines’ vehicle near the village church and set it on fire. This was the day of sankranti and she, alongwith several others, was participating in dhangdi, the annual dance ritual of the festival in Manoharpur village. While the dance was in progress, Ojen and Chenchu came to the group of dancing boys and girls, and asked them not to disclose their identity to anyone, Parvati said, adding that she was not sure whether Ojen and Chenchu were in the group that had torched the vehicle.
Asked by the trial court whether she could identify Ojen from among the accused in the court dock, Parvati failed and identified another accused Rajat Kumar Das as Ojen. At this prosecution counsel K. Sudhakar pointed out that she was deliberately doing so, since she was closely related to Ojen.
On cross examination, Parvati said on the night of the incident, she had heard a loud burst during the dance. ‘‘But Ojen and Chenchu asked us to continue the dance. They told us that they were afraid and had come out of the group that torched the vehicle,” Parvati stated.