By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, July 14, 2026: Dara Singh, the prime convict in the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, is likely to be released soon after the Odisha State Sentence Review Board recommended his freedom on grounds of “good behavior,” The Hindu reported.
Singh, who has spent more than 26 years in various prisons, is currently lodged in Keonjhar district jail.
According to The Hindu, the recommendation came after the Director General of Police (Prison) received a proposal from Keonjhar district authorities. The board met in early July to consider cases of life convicts eligible for premature release.
In its September 2025 meeting, the board reviewed 107 cases, recommending 18, rejecting 75, and deferring 14.
The Hindu quoted an official from Odisha’s Directorate of Prison and Correctional Services as saying Singh’s case was among those deferred, pending a fresh report from Auraiya district in Uttar Pradesh, his home district.
That report has now been received, paving the way for his release recommendation.
Singh’s case has long been politically sensitive. The Hindu noted that in 2022, Sudarshan TV editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke led a campaign for Singh’s release.
At the time, Mohan Charan Majhi, then a legislator from Keonjhar and now Odisha’s chief minister, joined Chavhanke outside the jail demanding Singh’s freedom.
The crime shocked the world. On Jan. 22, 1999, Staines and his sons Philip, 11, and Timothy, 7, were sleeping in a van after attending a jungle camp in Manoharpur, Keonjhar district.
A mob led by Singh locked the vehicle, doused it with fuel, and set it ablaze. The three were burned alive.
According to The Hindu, the attackers shouted slogans alleging Staines was involved in forced conversions of Hindus to Christianity.
A judicial commission headed by Supreme Court Justice D. P. Wadhwa later concluded that Bajrang Dal, the group is known for its Hindutva ideology and activism, was not involved in planning the attack and found no evidence of forced conversions. Instead, the commission noted Staines was running a shelter for leprosy patients.
However, The Hindu reported that the inquiry suggested Singh and some assailants were linked to the Sangh Parivar, a collective term for Hindu nationalist organizations in India.
The killings sparked global outrage. Between 1999 and 2000, 51 people were arrested. Thirty-seven were acquitted in the initial trial, while 14, including Singh, were convicted by a designated CBI court. The Orissa High Court later acquitted 11 more.
Singh’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. If Singh is released, The Hindu emphasized, no one convicted in the murders will remain behind bars.
(Photo Graham Staines Family / wikipedia.org)