Graham Staines homicide: As prime convict Dara Singh seeks launch, Odisha informed to resolve in a month | India Information
The Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday directed the Odisha authorities to resolve inside a month on the remission plea of Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who’s serving a life sentence for the 1999 homicide of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons.
A Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi adjourned the matter to August 19 after the Odisha authorities knowledgeable the courtroom that the State Sentence Assessment Board, which is analyzing Singh’s plea, had sought sure information that have been but to be made out there.
“In such circumstances, we deem it applicable to adjourn this matter to 19.08.2026. Within the meantime, we count on that the committee shall take its determination,” the Bench stated.
Talking to The Indian SpecificSingh’s counsel A P Singh stated the state knowledgeable the courtroom that the State Sentence Assessment Board had thought-about 56 remission instances, together with Singh’s, at its July 6 assembly.
“The state sought extra time to confirm sure information as Singh belongs to Auraiya district in Uttar Pradesh. The courtroom has requested it to take a choice by August 15,” he stated.
A senior authorities official stated the state was awaiting information from the Auraiya district authorities earlier than inserting its ultimate suggestion earlier than the apex courtroom.
Singh has been lodged in Keonjhar district jail for the previous 26 years. He moved the Supreme Courtroom in July 2024 looking for remission, stating that he had spent over 24 years in jail and had repented for his actions, which he described as having been dedicated in a “match of youthful rage”. He was 37 when he was arrested.
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1999 assault
On the evening of January 22, 1999, a mob of round 50 individuals led by Singh, attacked a camp at Manoharpur in Odisha’s Keonjhar district and burnt alive Staines and his two sons, Philip (10) and Timothy (6), whereas they have been asleep inside a station wagon. In response to the police, the assault was linked to tensions over alleged non secular conversions.
An FIR was registered at Anandpur police station on January 23, 1999. Whereas 49 individuals have been arrested quickly after the incident, Singh remained at massive. The investigation was initially dealt with by the Odisha Crime Department earlier than being transferred to the CBI, which registered the case on March 29, 1999.
Singh was arrested on January 31, 2000, in a forest in Keonjhar, although sources had then maintained that he had surrendered earlier than the police. Of the 50 accused arrested between 1999 and 2000, 37 have been acquitted inside three years.
In September 2003, a CBI courtroom in Bhubaneswar awarded the loss of life penalty to Singh and sentenced 12 others to life imprisonment. The Orissa Excessive Courtroom later acquitted 11 of the co-convicts, leaving solely Mahendra Hembram’s conviction intact.
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In Could 2005, the Excessive Courtroom commuted Singh’s loss of life sentence to life imprisonment, a choice upheld by the Supreme Courtroom in January 2011.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who represents the Keonjhar Meeting constituency, had earlier supported the demand for Singh’s launch. On September 21, 2022, whereas Chief of the Opposition, Majhi additionally participated in a dharna alongside Sudarshan Information editor Suresh Chavhanke, demanding that Chavhanke be allowed to satisfy Singh in Keonjhar jail.
In April 2025, Mahendra Hembram, one other convict within the case, was launched from Keonjhar jail after serving 25 years on the grounds of “good behaviour”. One other accused, who was a juvenile on the time of the offence, was tried individually by a juvenile courtroom and launched in 2008.
