By IANS
Baripada (Orissa) : A court in Orissa Monday sentenced Dara Singh to life imprisonment for the murder of a Muslim trader, Shaikh Rehman, in 1999.
Baripada district and sessions judge Sachidananda Sahu pronounced the sentence on the basis of the statement of a village guard, who was witness to Rehman’s murder at Padiabeda on Aug 26, 1999, court sources said.
The judge, however, acquitted others charged with the crime, Singh’s lawyer Prabhas Kumar Sahu told IANS.
Dara Singh is already serving a life term for burning to death Australian missionary Graham Staines and his sons outside a church at Manoharpur village in neighbouring Keonjhar district on Jan 22, 1999.
Last month, the same court sentenced Dara Singh and three others for murdering 35-year-old Catholic priest Father Arul Doss on Sep 1, 1999, at Jamubani, another village in the Baripada district.
Others sentenced in the Doss case include Chema Ho, Raj Kishore Mahant and Jadunath Mahant, who along with Dara Singh are at present lodged in the Baripada jail. Baripada is about 250 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.