Odisha: Graham Staines’ Brutal Murder; Mystery Hangs Over Dara Singh’s Release

The Supreme Court of India last Wednesday asked the Odisha government to decide in six weeks on the premature release plea of convict Dara Singh, convicted for the brutal murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines in 1999. The Odisha government has, however, sought time from the apex court. Singh, a Bajrang Dal activist, has been serving a life sentence.

Earlier, too, the apex court had sought the view of the Odisha government on Dara’s Singh’s early release but the state government had sought 45 days’ time. The deadline is almost over.

The Spine-Chilling Incident

Staines, along with his two minor sons, was burnt alive to death inside a station wagon vehicle on the night of January 22-23, 1999. The horrendous crime had stunned the entire world.

Reporting on the unspeakable act from Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district had somehow remained shrouded by various interpretations as the then media, except two platforms, could not reach the spot on January 22, which is roughly 150 km from the capital, Bhubaneswar.

However, this reporter, then representing a leading national electronics media channel, along with another national channel drove to Manoharpur at the dead of the night negotiating arduous tracks through thick forests.

It was almost past midnight when we reached the village, which was palpably bathed in a perplexing silence. The silence was too disturbing.

As we passed through the row of houses flanking the pathway, we could see men and women sitting on their verandahs, each a picture of shock and mental torment.

On our right hand, we saw what we had heard. The sight was flabbergasting and rendered each of us speechless. The station vehicle was still on fire from below and its deflated tyres were still in smoldering. Fumes were still emanating from inside the vehicle.

Australian missionary Graham Staines with his family. His two minor boys were burnt alive along with him in 1999 in Odisha, by Bajrang Dal activists led by Dara Singh. (File photo.)

A little away from the vehicle, we could catch a glimpse of the charred remains of three bodies, simply indistinguishable and nerve wracking. Two small corpses and one that of an adult.

The police had already reached the site of the crime and were preparing to send the mortal remains in a police van to Bhubaneswar.

Before that, the perpetrators of the heinous crime, led by Dara Singh, the main accused and his accomplices, had fled chanting ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’ as if self-cheering the horrendous act.

We gathered from the benumbed villagers that when the vehicle, stuffed with hay stacks, was on fire, the gang led by Singh, armed with weapons, did not allow any villager to come near the burning vehicle.

The villagers saw two little hands faintly visible, desperately banging the windscreens for help. But the screams were lost in the din of ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’ chants by the killers.

It was late evening on January 22, 1999, and Staines was reportedly holding some kind of formalities or feast after some conversions to Christianity. As we could gather from the villagers, mostly from the tribal community, Staines had been active in Manoharpur and in a few adjoining pockets for seeking conversions.       

That night was different. Little did Staines realise that a plan was being hatched by a gang of about 20 people led by Dara Singh to attack him. The missionary, perhaps, had no inkling of it and had brought along his two sons, Philip (10) and Timothy (6).

The seething vengeance of Dara Singh and his accomplices nearly exploded into a massacre. They stuffed haystacks underneath the vehicle in which the three were sleeping and set it on fire. A few men and women of the village told this reporter how a rage of revenge became cataclysmic when three live human beings (including two minors) were burnt to death alive before the entire village. Humanity was literally shamed.

The perpetrators stood on guard till the indescribable end. “We had no courage to dare the armed gang and douse the inferno where three souls were being charred to death”, I recall a senior villager called Suresh Hembram confiding to this reporter.

“We felt guilty that we were made mute onlookers despite the heart wrenching sight when, from a distance, we could faintly make out the movements of the three caught in the blaze inside the burning vehicle, banging the windscreens for help” whispered Sebati Majhi, an old woman of the village in who was in tears and panic-struck by the horrific scene.   

Dara Singh alias Ravindra Pal was known to be a Bajrang Dal activist who worked in that area against cow transportation to other states because cow slaughter was banned in Odisha. Singh, as per the government counsel, often resorted to brutal ways to punish cattle-laden truck drivers.

After committing the crime in Manoharpur, Singh went underground for a month before being arrested.

Singh, the main accused in the triple murder, was convicted and sentenced to death by a CBI court in 2003. The Orissa High Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005. The decision of the High Court was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011. 

Many human right activists expressed their annoyance after the High Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment for such an unforgivable crime considered as “rarest of rare”.

He (Dara) promised to “give back to the society” through “service-oriented actions”. He submitted that he had undergone more than the qualified period of sentence of 14 years under the April 19, 2022 remission policy in Odisha.

According to Wikipedia, Dara Singh was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  He was also an activist of the Bajrang Dal and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).

The police reported that Dara Singh was an active member of the ‘Go Suraksha Samiti’, an initiative financed and implemented by VHP and the Bajrang Dal.

We drove to Balasore 150 km from Bhubaneswar a week after the tragedy to meet Gladys Staines, wife of Graham Staines, who politely received us and was looking completely crest fallen. At times, she appeared numb and would walk inside and come back after washing her face.

The substance of her reaction was “what can I say, and from my side I simply forgive him (the killer)”. The bereaved mother and wife sounded spiritual.        

Now that the apex court has sought the view of the Odisha government,  which is “presently under the BJP rule, it seems a bit likely that the person behind of world’s one of most brutal acts in the history of crime, may get a nod for premature release”, Rabi Das, who as a journalist has been working on human rights also, told this reporter.

“Let’s wait. It would be premature at this time to predict the Odisha government’s response to the apex court’s query on the premature release of Dara”, said Aravinda Satpathy, a senior advocate of the High Court of Orissa. 

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Odisha with over 40 years of experience in the profession.