Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court has directed the Odisha government to release Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in 1999, by August 15, as per his counsel A.P. Singh.

Speaking to mediapersons, A.P. Singh said the apex court has ordered the state government to release Dara Singh from jail on or before Independence Day.

Dara Singh, whose real name is Rabindra Kumar Pal, has been serving a life sentence for killing Graham Staines and his minor sons, Philip and Timothy.

The Supreme Court had earlier directed the Odisha government to take a decision on Singh's remission plea. The State Sentence Review Board (SSRB), during its meeting on July 6, considered the remission applications of 56 life convicts, including Dara Singh, and forwarded its recommendation to the state government for approval.

Singh had approached the Supreme Court seeking the benefit of a more liberal remission policy, arguing that he had spent more than 25 years in prison.

In April 2025, Mahendra Hembram, a co-convict and associate of Dara Singh in the case, was granted premature release from prison on the basis of good conduct.

The murders took place on the night of January 21, 1999, in Manoharpur village of Odisha's Keonjhar district. Graham Staines and his two sons were sleeping inside their station wagon after attending a Christian gathering when a mob led by Dara Singh set the vehicle on fire. The three were burnt alive.

Dara Singh was arrested on January 31, 2000, by the then Mayurbhanj Superintendent of Police Y.B. Khurania, who is now the Director General of Police of Odisha. Fourteen people, including Dara Singh and Mahendra Hembram, were named as accused in the case, but 12 were later acquitted.

A CBI court sentenced Dara Singh to death in 2003 after holding him to be the principal conspirator in the triple murder. The Orissa High Court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment in 2005, and the Supreme Court upheld the life sentence in 2011.