The Justice D P Wadhwa Commission of inquiry sought to know how the name of Dara Singh figured in the FIR which was translated into English.

Deposing before the Commission here on Thursday, Jayant Mahapatra, who was the investigating officer of the case before it was handed over to the Crime Branch, said that he drew up the FIR at 9 am on January 23 on the basis of the oral narration of the incident by Rolia Soren.

He read out a portion of the Oriya FIR in which Soren had alleged that Dara along with some supporters had threatened the Christian community of the village two days before the incident occurred. Based on this, Dara's name was added to the list of accused in the FIR subsequently written in English, he said.

Asked toproduce the original FIR, Mohapatra said that the original copy had been submitted in the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Anandpur. He has submitted a copy of the FIR to the Commission.

Replying to a question, Mohapatra said he obtained the signature of Rolia immediately after the FIR was drawn up in the presence of Peter Murmu. Besides examining Rolia and other witnesses, Mohapatra said he had also examined Murmu the same day.

Mohapatra told the Commission that he was not aware that a burnt watch was recovered from one of the two charred vehicles by Gurudas Dasgupta, MP who had visited Manoharpur along with a team of MPs on January 25.

Although the two burnt vehicles were cordoned off, Mohapatra said that important dignitaries visiting the spot were allowed to touch the vehicles. He further maintained that scientific officer of the district scientific laboratory had examined the burnt vehicles after his inspection and recording of seized articles.

During inspection of the twovehicles, Mohapatra said that he found that the two of the three charred bodies were lying inside the vehicle while the body of Timothy was protruding out. Timothy's head was hanging down from the vehicle. Replying to a question, Mohapatra said Timothy's body was identified by the personal staff of Graham Staines.

Mohapatra said that Paul Murmu told the police that Staines and his sons were burnt to death while Niamain Hansda claimed that they were set ablaze after they were killed.

Asked why the police did not take the help of a dog squad during its investigation, Mohapatra said it could not be possible as the only sniffer dog in the district was ailing at that time.

Replying to the Commission which sought to know whether Lalit Marandi and the other four accused named in the first FIR were present in Manoharpur, Mohapatra said he was not sure. However, the FIR was drawn on the basis of the witnesses.

He further told the Commission that 44 persons of the 51 arrested in connection with the Manoharpurincident were released. He was not sure on what grounds they were released. However, the Commission asked Mohapatra to show reasons for their arrest.

On the landing of a helicopter at Manoharpur on February 26 last, Mahapatra said that he did not know about the three occupants who had come from Andhra Pradesh. They met the villagers and offered payer at the local church before leaving the village. He said that four persons including Rolia Soren, Chaitanya Murmu, Samsung Marandi and Damodar Murmu had visited Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh the same day by a car. However, he was not sure about the purpose of their visit and who arranged the car for them.

Mohapatra will be further examined by the Commission on Friday, the last day of its sitting here. District Superintendent of Police, Keonjhar, Arun Ray was examined for the second day while Mayurbhanj SP, S K Upadhyay appeared before the Commission for the third day.