of the Bajrang Dal and targeted Muslim cattle traders. Because cow slaughter is banned in Orissa, Dara Singh often intercepted trucks transporting cows to West Bengal, releasing the animals and setting the trucks on fire. All his targets were Muslim truck drivers. He redistributed the cows to the local people; in this way he achieved a degree of popularity among the tribal people and became a political figure. Some of the villagers gave him shelter after he was on the run for more than a year during the Graham Staines case. He had a small loyal band that was increasingly involved in violent opposition to what they perceived as anti-Hindu forces. In September 1998, a cattle truck was looted and torched, and the trucker's assistant, Shaikh Imam was beaten to death in Godabhanga Ghati in the Mayurbhanj district. Singh was charged in this case and eventually acquitted in October 2006 due to lack of sufficient evidence and hostile witnesses. In September 1999 Arul Das, a Catholic priest, was shot and killed with an arrow in Jamabani village in Mayurbhanj district by a gang led by Dara Singh; Das was fleeing the building, which had been set on fire. In September 2007 Singh was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, along with associates Chena Hao, Rajkishore Mohanta, and Jadunath Mohanta. On 26 November 1999 more than 20 men armed with machetes attacked Shaikh Rahman, a Muslim garment merchant, in Padiabeda village, beating him and severing his hands. His body was then set alight and incinerated to prevent his family members from recovering it, and his garment stall was also set on fire. Singh and his associate Buluram Mohanty were indicted in connection with this killing. In October 2007, Singh was convicted of the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment, while the 23 others were acquitted on grounds of insufficient evidence. Graham Staines murder On 22 January 1999, at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district, Orissa, a mob led by Dara Singh attacked Graham Staines's station wagon with Staines and his two sons, Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6), inside. Chanting "Jai Bajarang Bali", the mob set fire to the station wagon and all three were burned to death. Dara Singh does not appear to have used any legal remedy against being troubled by any of Staines's activities that would have provoked him into killing the missionary and his young sons.