Staines had worked in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district and looked after leprosy patients and villagers who lived in abject poverty for almost 35 years. He was burnt to death, with his sons aged 10 and 6, by a Bajrang Dal mob led by Dara Singh, while they were sleeping in their station wagon on the night of January 22, 1999. The RSS affiliate accused the missionary of 'forced conversions' but the justice Wadhwa commission appointed by the Vajpayee government in its report said there was no evidence of forced conversions.
