Thakurmunda, Aug. 27 :     Orissa director-general of police Dilip Mohapatra today admitted that Dara Singh, prime accused in the slayings of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two sons, was ?involved? in yesterday?s killing of a Muslim trader at a crowded marketplace here. The killing sparked demonstrations from the minority community who gathered before the sub-collector?s office in Karanjia, where the trader?s body was kept, demanding Singh?s arrest. A shaken Mohapatra, who visited the scene of the crime today, conceded that the police had no prior information about the attack, which occurred at the Pariabeda village hat, 20 km from here, in Mayurbhanj district. He said witness accounts and evidence suggested that Singh was ?directly involved? in the crime. A case has been registered at Thakurmunda police station against Singh after Pariabeda village guard Mukunda Nayak, who saw Singh kill the man, filed an FIR. ?Apart from the village guard, a number of other villagers also told us that they saw Singh attack the trader,? Mohapatra added. Dara Singh allegedly hacked off the hands of garments trader Sheikh Rahman before burning him alive. A heap of ash was all that remained of Rahman?s garment shop at the hat. Flies buzzed over patches of dried blood. ?He (Rahman) lay in a pool of blood and was terribly burnt when I saw him after I returned from the fields with my livestock at dusk. He was still alive and crying for his mother,? said Jaykrishna Mohanta, whose house stands opposite Rahman?s stall. Mohanta said there was no one in sight as the traders had fled and the villagers were too scared to venture out of their homes. ?I did not also dare go near him in his last hour. I feel bad as he was a good man who never had any argument with anybody,? he added. Rahman?s parents and the police reached Pariabeda soon after and took him to Karanjia hospital. He was declared dead on arrival. A general strike was called in Karanjia today to protest the killing. The prime witness, 45-year-old Nayak, said he had gone to the market around 4.30 pm to buy rice. As he haggled over the price, he heard a commotion. ?I looked up to see Dara Singh attack the trader with a sword,? Nayak said. ?As I caught his eye, Dara chased me with the sword and I ran for my life,? Nayak, who has been village guard for the past eight years, said he knew Singh as he had ?come to my village several times before the Manoharpur incident (where the Staineses were killed)?. The officer-in-charge of Thakurmunda police station, T.K. Das, said the villagers were too scared to reveal anything. ?Whenever we asked anything, they pleaded ignorance,? he said. Angry Muslims from neighbouring villages demonstrated at the sub-collector?s office in Karanjia throughout last night and today demanding protection. They refused to let the police take away the body for post mortem until Singh was arrested. By the afternoon, however, collector R. Balakrishnan and superintendent of police Pradeep Kapoor managed to persuade the protesters to allow an autopsy. M.M. Alam, one of the protesters, said the police did not take any action even though Singh had attacked and looted a number of Muslim cattle traders and other businessmen in the area. ?We will take up arms to protect ourselves if the government cannot provide security,? said fellow demonstrator Jainal Abedin.