Exclusive: Odisha rejects Dara Singh's remission plea in Graham Staines murder case ahead of top court hearing

Odisha’s sentence review board has rejected a plea for the premature release of Dara Singh, 67, who is serving a life sentence for burning alive Australian missionary Graham Staines, 58, and his sons aged 10 and seven as they slept in 1999, ending months of uncertainty over his remission ahead of the September 17 Supreme Court hearing on the matter. The court last week directed the state government to take a clear position on Singh’s plea for release.

Singh has spent over 26 years and six months in prison. He became eligible for consideration for premature release under Odisha’s 2022 remission guidelines. Singh approached the Supreme Court in 2024 seeking directions to the Odisha government to consider his premature release under those guidelines.

The State Sentence Review Board considered the case at its special meeting on August 31, and said Singh’s release could have societal ramifications and potentially lead to communal disturbances.

In March 2025, the district administration in Keonjhar, where Singh is imprisoned, recommended Singh’s premature release, provided conditions were imposed to ensure social harmony. In its latest report, the administration reported that about 200 to 250 people associated with the Dara Sena raised provocative slogans outside the Keonjhar District Jail on August 15. HT has reviewed details of the board meeting proceedings.

The board cited the district administration’s latest report and said it does not have a specific recommendation, calling it inconclusive, while recommending against Singh’s premature release.

The board rejected Singh’s premature release in 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023, citing grounds including concerns over communal harmony.

The Supreme Court warned that state officials could be summoned if the board continued to delay its decision. On August 19, the court directed the board to decide by September 2 and inform it of the outcome. “You want to reject it, you do it. You take a decision. We will deal with it. You can’t keep it lingering like this.”

A Central Bureau of Investigation court sentenced Singh to death in 2003 after convicting him of murder, criminal conspiracy, and rioting. In 2005, the Orissa high court acquitted 11 other accused and commuted Singh’s death sentence to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court dismissed Singh’s appeal against the conviction.

Singh was also convicted of the killing of Catholic priest Father Arul Doss and trader SK Rahman in Mayurbhanj. He was sentenced to life in both cases in 2007. The high court dismissed his appeals.

One of the convicts, Mahendra Hembram, in the Staines case was released prematurely in April 2025.

Singh’s remission pleas were dismissed even as government records showed his generally good prison conduct. He went on hunger strikes in 2006 and 2008 and has never been released on parole or furlough. The high court and Keonjhar district magistrate rejected his two parole applications.

The board deferred the matter in May 2025, citing his convictions in three murder cases and seeking further reports. It again deferred the case in September 2025, seeking a fresh opinion from authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya, where Singh is originally from. The Auraiya authorities supported his premature release in February 2026.

In July 2024, the Supreme Court noted that he had been in custody for over 24 years and said his premature release should have been considered.