Advocate A P Singh with Dara Sena chief Mukesh Jain and other, talking with the media persons after hearing of Dara Singh’s case, outside the Supreme Court in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Dara Singh, the prime convict of the gruesome murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in 1999, is likely to be set free soon after the Odisha State Sentence Review Board recommended his release from jail on ground of ‘good behaviour’.
Singh is currently lodged in Keonjhar district jail, while he has already spent over 26 years in different jails after he, along with several others, had set fire to a van in which Staines and his sons were sleeping on a wintry night of January 22, 1999.
His release was recommended by the Director General of Police (Prison) after receiving a proposal to the same effect from Keonjhar district authorities.
In a meeting of the Odisha State Sentence Review Board held in the first week of July, the cases of eligible life convicts were considered for their premature release from jail.
In the last meeting of the board held in September 2025, 107 cases were considered. Out of which, 18 cases were recommended, 75 cases were rejected and 14 cases were deferred by the Board.
“On receipt of approval from the government during November 2025, all 18 life convicts have been released from jails. All 14 deferred cases were placed before the board for consideration of their premature release. Dara Singh’s case was one of them,” said an official of Odisha’s Directorate of Prison and Correctional Services.
The Board had earlier deferred Singh’s case to obtain a fresh report from authorities in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh, his home district, as the last report from the Auraiya Superintendent of Police dated back to 2022.
In 2022, Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan TV, led a campaign to secure Singh’s release from jail. When he attempted to meet him in Keonjhar jail, he was denied permission. At that time, the current Chief Minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, who was then an MLA from Keonjhar, had sat outside the jail along with Mr. Chavhanke, demanding his release.
Graham Staines murder
On January 22, 1999, Graham Staines and his two sons — Philip (11) and Timothy (7) — had come to Manoharpur in Keonjhar district to attend a jungle camp, an annual gathering of Christians of the area. While they were sleeping in a wagon, a mob led by Singh locked the van from outside and poured inflammable substance on it and set the van on fire. After ghastly act, they were allegedly shouting ‘Jai Bajrang Dal’. The assailants alleged that Staines was involved in foreceful conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
A judicial commission of inquiry, headed by Supreme Court Justice D. P. Wadhwa, appointed a week after stated in its report that Bajrang Dal was not involved in planning and execution of the crime. The committee also noted that there was no evidence of Staines involved in forced conversions, and he was running a shelter for people affected by leprosy. However, there were suggestive evidence of Dara Singh and some members from the mob were from the Sangh Parivar.
Between 1999 and 2000, a total of 51 people were arrested in connection with the murder that sparked a global outrage. Of them, 37 were acquitted during the initial trial. Fourteen individuals, including Dara Singh, were convicted by a designated CBI court. Later, the Orissa High Court acquitted 11 more.
The sentences handed down ranged from 14 years in prison to capital punishment. Dara Singh’s death sentence was eventually commuted to life imprisonment. Chenchu Hansdah, a juvenile at the time of the incident, was released in 2008 following an appeal. If Singh is released, no one convicted in the murder of Graham Staines and his two sons will remain in prison.
Published – July 14, 2026 04:14 pm IST
