Graham Staines with wife, two sons and a daughter. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, May 17: Fourteen years after Australian missionary Graham Staines and two of his minor sons were burnt alive by a mob at Manoharpur, around 300km from here, a joint team of the CBI and police arrested two absconding accused today.

Ghanshyam Mahant, 37, and Ramjan Mahant, 34, were picked up from Gayalmunda and Bhalughera villages within Anandpur police limits in Keonjhar. “Ghanshyam was arrested from Gayalmunda and Ramjan from Bhalughera. They have never faced trial in the case,” said Keonjhar superintendent of police Kavita Jalan, adding that they carried a reward of Rs 50,000 each.

The accused were brought to Bhubaneswar in the afternoon and produced in the court of special chief judicial magistrate (CBI). The investigating agency has taken them on a four-day remand for interrogation.

Staines and his sons — Philip and Timothy — were burnt to death on January 22, 1999, while they were sleeping in their station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar. The mob of religious fanatics, which torched the vehicle, had allegedly sought to punish Staines for being involved in religious conversions.

The CBI, which took over investigation from the state crime branch, had filed charge sheets against 18 persons including the main accused Dara Singh alias Ravindra Kumar Pal. However, when the case went for trial, three of the accused — Ghanshyam, Ramjan and Budhi Nayak — were absconding. Budhi still remains traceless.

On September 15, 2003, the designated CBI court in Bhubaneswar had convicted Dara and 12 others in the case. While Dara was awarded death, others were sentenced to life imprisonment. The court had acquitted Aniruddha Dandapat alias Andha Nayak. The others convicted were Rajat Kumar Das alias Dipu Das, Mahendra Hembram, Renta Hembram, Ojen Hansda, Kartik Lohar, Rabi Soren, Dayanidhi Patra, Mahadev Mahanta, Harish Mahanta, Thuram Ho, Surath Nayak and Umakanta Bhoi.

A juvenile accused, Sudarshan alias Chenchu Hansda, was convicted in a juvenile court and sent to a probation home.

On May 19, 2005, Orissa High Court set aside the death sentence awarded to Dara and commuted it to life imprisonment. However, the court retained the life imprisonment awarded to Mahendra while acquitting the others. On January 21, 2011, the Supreme Court upheld the life imprisonment for Dara and Mahendra.

Shubhankar Ghosh, a close associate of the slain missionary and an eyewitness to the incident, recalled his helplessness at not being able to rescue Staines and his children.

“I saw the mob and the hooliganism, but I was helpless since they had locked the house in which I was staying from outside,” he said.