BHUBANESHWAR, India - A witness to the burning deaths three years ago of an Australian missionary and his two sons in eastern India said he saw three men accused of the murder gathering with a mob shortly before the attack.
Satya Soren told a court that he saw Kartik Lohar, Surat Nayak and Dara Singh among a group of 10 to 12 people "assembling and discussing something under a mango tree" just before Christian missionary Graham Staines and his sons were murdered. Soren told the judge that he could not recollect what the group was discussing.
Singh allegedly led a Hindu mob on Jan. 23, 1999 to attack and set fire to the station wagon that Staines and his sons — Philip, 10, and Timothy, 8 — were sleeping in.
Their vehicle was parked in front of a church in the Manoharpur, a remote village 235 kilometers (145 miles) north of Bhubaneswar, capital of eastern Orissa state.
Lohar, Nayak and Singh were present in court when Soren identified them as among the 12 accused of committing the murder. Under Indian criminal law, a suspect must be identified in front of a judge for the case to proceed.
Soren said that his brother, Rabi Soren, who is also accused of taking part in the murder, was not part of the group.
In an earlier hearing, another witness had identified Singh and another suspect, Rajat Kumar Das, as leaders of a mob of 30 to 40 people that set fire to the Staines' car.
Anti-Christian sentiment had been on the rise in the region and the killing of the Australian missionary followed several other attacks.