BHUBANESHWAR, India - A forensic expert told a trial court Tuesday that the handwriting in a letter describing a man's involvement in the slaying of a Christian missionary matched that of one of the suspects in the man's death.
The letter allegedly was written by suspect Mahendra Hembram to his sister, narrating his part in events leading to the burning death of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in eastern India three years ago.
Forensic expert K.B Jena told a court here Tuesday that the letter's handwriting matched the handwriting and signature of Hembram. The Central Bureau of Investigation, India's FBI, had given the letter to Jena for examination.
The letter is considered vital evidence in the murder trial, which resumed this week after a one-month hiatus. Police have charged 14 people, including Hembram, in the murders.
The letter states that Hembram was with the Hindu mob that attacked and set fire to the car in which Staines and his sons — Philip, 10, and Timothy, 8 — were sleeping on Jan. 23, 1999.
The station wagon was parked in front of a church in Manoharpur, a remote village 235 kilometers (145 miles) north of Bhubaneshwar, capital of eastern Orissa state.
Anti-Christian sentiment had been on the rise in the region and the killing of the missionary and his sons followed several other attacks.