Odisha Govt Panel Recommends Release of Dara Singh, Convicted For the 1999 Murder of Graham Staines and Sons

New Delhi: The Odisha State Sentence Review Board has recommended the release of Dara Singh – the prime convict for the murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in 1999 – from jail on ground of “good behaviour”, reported The Hindu.

The development comes days after prime minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Australia.

At present Singh is lodged in Keonjhar district jail i the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state, having spent 26 years in different prisons for the gruesome murder of Staines and his sons on the night of January 22, 1999.

The Hindu report added that Singh’s release was recommended by the Director General of Police (Prison) after receiving a proposal to the same effect from Keonjhar district authorities.

During a meeting of the Odisha State Sentence Review Board which was held in the first week of July, the cases of eligible life convicts were considered for their premature release from jail.

Earlier, in the last meeting of the board that was held in September 2025, 107 cases were considered, 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,” an official of Odisha’s Directorate of Prison and Correctional Services told The Hindu.

In 1999, Dara Singh led a mob to set the wagon in which Staines and his two sons were sleeping on fire. Staines, who ran a home for lepers, and his two sons were charred to death. In 2003, the trial court in Khordha sentenced Singh to death, while 12 others were sentenced to life. The Odisha high court later commuted Singh’s death sentence to life.

Singh was also convicted and given life sentence in two other murder cases of a Muslim trader and another Christian missionary.

Odisha CM Majhi had in 2022 supported demand for Singh's release

Notably, Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi had in 2022 supported Sudarshan TV’s editor Suresh Chavhanke to demand the release Singh. At the time Majhi was a BJP legislator.

Mohan Charan Majhi sitting on dharna with Suresh Chavahanke after not being allowed to meet Dara Singh in jail. Photo: Shared on social media

Known for his rabid Islamophobia, Chavhanke has been leading a campaign to get Singh released. In September 2022, Chavhanke was denied permission to meet Singh in Keonjhar jail, following which the Sudarshan TV editor and BJP leaders who had accompanied him, including Majhi, staged a dharna to press the jail authorities.

After Keonjhar jail authorities said that Singh will only be allowed to meet his family members and lawyers in 2022, Chavhanke, Majhi and other BJP leaders demonstrated against the decision. Majhi, who was BJP’s chief whip in 2022, had told The Hindu, “…this is just a demand. If the situation warrants, we would discuss in the party to back him (Singh).”

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