There were conflicting reports on who could be behind the killing. Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of Dara Singh, prime suspect in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons. But Inspector General, Law and Order, Amarananda Patnaik, who led a police team to the spot to retrieve the body, told reporters that Dara Singh's name did not figure anywhere in the statements of the villagers.

But an official spokesman told a news agency in Bhubaneswar that 200 armed police were combing the area near the murder site ``on suspicion of possible involvement'' of Dara Singh.

The state DGP, Dilip Mohapatra, who had admitted last week that Dara Singh had escaped the police dragnet, on Friday reviewed efforts toarrest Dara with senior officials.

Gamang told reporters that the killing of Arul Doss occurred within Dara's domain and the method of the murder was ``more or less the same as in the killings of Staines and his two sons.'' But he added that no hasty conclusions should be made.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today hit out at the Orissa government for not taking immediate steps to arrest the killers and Union Home Minister L K Advani asked the state government to try and arrest Dara Singh promptly.

Meanwhile, the priest's body was brought to Anandpur in Keonjhar district after a 20-hr arduous trek through dense forests and difficult terrain. Father Isaac, secretary to the Bishop of Catholic Church, Balasore, and other church members accompanied the body. A broken piece of an arrow was found embedded in the body. The funeral will take place on Saturday morning at Balasore.

IG Amarananda Patnaik said that the incident was either an act by fanatics or could be over a land dispute -- the motive is yetto be established.

Patnaik said the police were not aware of a sizable Christian population at Jamubani and that Doss was a regular visitor to the village.

The village has about 70 houses, all scattered and isolated. Though the entire area had been sealed, the police did not anticipate such a ghastly incident in a remote place like Jamubani, Patnaik added.

Gamang evaded the question whether he would step down owning moral responsibility for the recent killings saying the question was ``political''.

He said it would be unfair to blame the state police when both the special investigation team assisting the Justice Wadhwa Commission of Inquiry and the Central Bureau of Investigation had failed to arrest Dara Singh.

Governor C Rangarajan condemned the murder saying the state had a history of communal amity and this climate of harmony and peace was being vitiated by some ``anti-social'' elements. He hoped that the state government would take effective steps to bring the culprits to book.