Dara Singh, the main convict in the murder of Graham Staines, is to be set free
Advocate AP Singh with Dara Sena chief Mukesh Jain and others address the media in New Delhi on July 14, 2026 after a hearing in the Dara Singh case. | Photo credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Dara Singh, the main convict in 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 Sentencing Review Board recommended his release from prison on the grounds of “good behaviour”.
Singh is currently lodged in the Keonjhar District Jail, while he has already spent more than 26 years in various jails after he and several others set fire to the van in which Staines and his sons were sleeping on the winter night of January 22, 1999.
His release was recommended by the Director General of Police (Prisons) after receiving a proposal to the same effect from the Keonjhar district authorities.
In the Odisha State Penal Review Board meeting held in the first week of July, the cases of eligible life convicts were considered for their early release from jail.
At the last council meeting held in September 2025, 107 cases were discussed. Of these, 18 cases were recommended, 75 cases were rejected and 14 cases were postponed by the board.
“After receiving the government’s approval during November 2025, all 18 life convicts were released from jail. All 14 pending cases were brought before the board for consideration of their early release. Dara Singh’s case was one of them,” said an official of Odisha’s Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services.
The council had earlier adjourned Singh’s case to get a fresh report from the authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district, his home district, as the last report from the Auraiya Superintendent of Police was in 2022.
In 2022, Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan TV, campaigned to secure Singh’s release from prison. When he tried to meet him at Keonjhar jail, he was denied permission. At that time, the present Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who was then MLA from Keonjhar, was sitting outside the jail along with Mr. Chavhanka and demanding his release.
The murder of Graham Staines
On January 22, 1999, Graham Staines and his two sons – Philip (11) and Timothy (7) – arrived in Manoharpur in Keonjhar district to attend a jungle camp, an annual gathering of Christians from the area. While they were sleeping in the coach, a mob led by Singh locked the van from outside, doused it with flammable substance and set the van on fire. They reportedly shouted “Jai Bajrang Dal” after the heinous act. The attackers alleged that Staines was involved in the forcible conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
A judicial commission of inquiry, headed by Supreme Court Justice DP Wadhawa, appointed a week after said in its report that the Bajrang Dal was not involved in the planning and execution of the crime. The committee also noted that there was no evidence that Staines was involved in forced conversions and that he ran a shelter for people affected by leprosy. However, there was suggestive evidence of Dara Singh and some members of the mob were from the Sangh Parivar.
Between 1999 and 2000, a total of 51 people were arrested in connection with the murder, which sparked global outrage. 37 of them were acquitted during the initial trial. Fourteen persons, including Dara Singh, were convicted by a designated CBI court. Later, the Odisha High Court acquitted 11 others.
Sentences handed down ranged from 14 years in prison to the death penalty. 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 on appeal. If Singh is freed, no one convicted of murdering Graham Staines and his two sons will remain in prison.
Published – 14 Jul 2026 16:14 IST