Odisha govt rejects Dara Singh's plea for release from jail in Graham Staines, sons' murder case

Bhubaneswar, Sep 15 (PTI) The Odisha government has rejected the plea of Hindutva activist Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh for premature release from prison in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in Keonjhar in 1999, officials said on Tuesday.

Singh, who is serving life imprisonment, had made the appeal for his premature release from prison as he had already spent around 25 years in jail. The Supreme Court, which is hearing his plea, had asked the Odisha government to take a decision in this regard.

The Odisha government took the decision at a special meeting of the State Sentence Review Board (SSRB) on August 31, the officials said.

The meeting resolved that "in view of certain facts and circumstances, the Board is therefore not inclined to recommend his premature release at this stage", they added.

The state government, while rejecting the plea, maintained that Singh's plea had earlier also been turned down by the SSRB -- on November 24, 2016, June 24, 2019, December 24, 2020, January 12, 2022 and February 20, 2023 -- "on various grounds including the societal ramifications in apprehension of communal disturbance in the area".

The SSRB's August 31 special meeting was chaired by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Hemant Sharma and attended by five other members.

The SSRB noted that the district authorities of Keonjhar, where the triple-murder took place in 1999 and Singh is imprisoned, had in March last year given a conditional recommendation, stating that he may be prematurely released, while imposing certain conditions to maintain social harmony.

"Further, the district authorities, in a letter to the government on August 28, 2026, have reported that on August 15, a congregation comprising approximately 200-250 people associated with 'Dara Sena' assembled in front of the district jail in Keonjhar in connection with the proposed release of the convict, during which provocative slogans were reportedly raised. However, the report lacks specific recommendation and is inconclusive," the meeting stated in its observation before finally rejecting the plea.

Sixty-seven-year-old Singh, who hails from Uttar Pradesh but settled in Odisha's Keonjhar district, is currently serving life imprisonment for burning to death Staines (then 58) and his two minor sons -- Philip and Timothy -- when they were sleeping in a station wagon in front of a church at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar in the intervening night of January 22-23, 1999.

Singh, the main accused in the triple-murder case, was sentenced to capital punishment by the Special CBI Court and the District and Sessions Judge Court in Bhubaneswar in 2003. The Orissa High Court later commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005 and it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011.

Recently, the Supreme Court, while hearing Singh's petition for release from prison, had asked the Odisha government to take a decision on the matter or it will take the decision.

"You (state) take a decision whatever you want to. Otherwise we will take our own. If you don't take a decision, we will," an apex court bench had stated.

The next date of hearing in the Supreme Court on the matter is September 17.

Singh, while seeking mercy, had assured the court that he would give back to society through "service-oriented actions".

His lawyers said Singh had undergone more than the qualified period of sentence of 14 years under the April 19, 2022 policy and spent over 24 years of actual imprisonment without remission.

Meanwhile, Singh's accomplice Mahendra Hembram, who was also sentenced to life imprisonment in the case, has been released from jail. Eleven other accused were acquitted by the High Court due to lack of evidence.

Staines and his wife Gladys worked with the Mayurbhanj Evangelical Missionary organisation and cared for leprosy patients. Gladys Staines, who shifted to Australia, was awarded the Padma Shri in 2005.

She has announced that she has forgiven the killers of her husband and sons, and held no bitterness against them.