4 min readBhubaneswarJul 15, 2026 05:26 AM IST
First published on: Jul 14, 2026 at 10:48 PM IST
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Odisha government to decide within a month on the remission plea of Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder 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 government informed the court that the State Sentence Review Board, which is examining Singh’s plea, had sought certain records that were yet to be made available.
“In such circumstances, we deem it appropriate to adjourn this matter to 19.08.2026. In the meantime, we expect that the committee shall take its decision,” the Bench said.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Singh’s counsel A P Singh said the state informed the court that the State Sentence Review Board had considered 56 remission cases, including Singh’s, at its July 6 meeting.
“The state sought more time to verify certain records as Singh belongs to Auraiya district in Uttar Pradesh. The court has asked it to take a decision by August 15,” he said.
A senior government official said the state was awaiting records from the Auraiya district authorities before placing its final recommendation before the apex court.
Singh has been lodged in Keonjhar district jail for the past 26 years. He moved the Supreme Court in July 2024 seeking remission, stating that he had spent over 24 years in prison and had repented for his actions, which he described as having been committed in a “fit of youthful rage”. He was 37 when he was arrested.
1999 attack
On the night of January 22, 1999, a mob of around 50 people 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), while they were asleep inside a station wagon. According to the police, the attack was linked to tensions over alleged religious conversions.
An FIR was registered at Anandpur police station on January 23, 1999. While 49 people were arrested soon after the incident, Singh remained at large. The investigation was initially handled by the Odisha Crime Branch before 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, though sources had then maintained that he had surrendered before the police. Of the 50 accused arrested between 1999 and 2000, 37 were acquitted within three years.
In September 2003, a CBI court in Bhubaneswar awarded the death penalty to Singh and sentenced 12 others to life imprisonment. The Orissa High Court later acquitted 11 of the co-convicts, leaving only Mahendra Hembram’s conviction intact.
In May 2005, the High Court commuted Singh’s death sentence to life imprisonment, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in January 2011.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who represents the Keonjhar Assembly constituency, had earlier supported the demand for Singh’s release. On September 21, 2022, while he was Opposition chief Whip in the Assembly, Majhi also participated in a dharna alongside Sudarshan News editor Suresh Chavhanke, demanding that Chavhanke be allowed to meet Singh in Keonjhar jail.
In April 2025, Mahendra Hembram, another convict in the case, was released from Keonjhar jail after serving 25 years on the grounds of “good behaviour”. Another accused, who was a juvenile at the time of the offence, was tried separately by a juvenile court and released in 2008.
On the night of January 22, 1999, a mob of around 50 people 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), while they were asleep inside a station wagon. (File Photo/Enhanced using AI) 
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