Graham Staines Murder Convict Released From Jail After 25 Years

Mahendra Hembram, one of the convicts in the 1999 high-profile triple murder case of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, was released from Keonjhar jail in Odisha on Wednesday after serving 25 years.

Now 50 years old, Hembram was released from the prison on grounds of good behaviour during his incarceration.

"Hembram has been released following a decision by the State Sentence Review Board. The prison directorate informed about it in a letter on Tuesday. He has been released after 25 years because of good behaviour in accordance with the rules," said Jailer Manaswini Naik.

Jail authorities gave Hembram a cordial farewell, garlanding him as a mark of recognition for his good conduct during his prison term.

An official said Hembram was handed over a bank passbook, where his earnings from prison labour had been deposited.

"I spent 25 years in jail after being falsely implicated in an incident related to religious conversion. Today, I have been released," Hembram told reporters outside the jail.

Hembram and Dara Singh, alias Rabindra Pal Singh, were convicted of the brutal murders of Mr Staines and his sons - Philip (10) and Timothy (6) - who were burned alive by a mob allegedly led by Singh on the night of January 21, 1999.

The victims were sleeping in a station wagon parked in front of a church in Keonjhar district's Manoharpur village, when the attack took place, triggering national and international outrage.

It was alleged that the Mr Staines had spread straw over the vehicle to shield themselves from the cold, and the straw caught fire.

When they tried to escape, the mob - armed with lathis - prevented them from getting out, leading to their deaths. Their skeletal remains were later recovered.

A total of 14 persons, including Singh and Hembram, were accused in the gruesome case.

However, 12 of them were acquitted, while Singh and Hembram were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Hembram, hailing from Manoharpur village, was arrested in 1999, while Dara Singh was picked up on January 31, 2000, by then Mayurbhanj SP Y B Khurania, who is now the DGP.

Initially kept as an undertrial prisoner at Jharpada Jail in Bhubaneswar, Hembram was sentenced to life imprisonment on September 22, 2003.

Over the years, Hembram was incarcerated in several facilities, including Jharpada, Jamujhari Open Air Jail (Bhubaneswar), and jails in Cuttack, Berhampur, Baripada, Anandpur Sub-Jail, before being transferred to Keonjhar Jail on September 28, 2011. He remained there until his release.

During the trial at the CBI court in Bhubaneswar on February 1, 2002, Hembram reportedly lost mental composure and declared himself the sole culprit and claimed that others were innocent.

Trial started on March 1, 2001 at the District and Sessions Court in Khurda, which was designated as a CBI court.

Evidence against Dara Singh was confirmed when one of the accused persons, Dayanidhi Patra, told the trial court that he was present when he (Dara Singh) set fire to the vehicle.

The trial concluded on August 18, 2003, with Judge Mahendra Patnaik sentencing Dara Singh and 12 others, while acquitting Anirudha Dandapat, alias Andha Nayak, for lack of evidence.

On September 22, 2003, the court awarded Dara Singh the death penalty and sentenced 12 others to life imprisonment. However, in 2005, the Orissa High Court commuted Singh's death sentence to life imprisonment, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court.

Dara Singh, currently serving a life sentence, filed a mercy petition in the Supreme Court in August 2024 seeking release. Another mercy plea was also submitted to the President of India.

Meanwhile, on March 19, 2025, the Supreme Court directed the Odisha government to take a decision on the remission plea of a "repenting" Ravindra Pal alias Dara Singh, who continues to serve his sentence for the murders of Mr Staines and his sons.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)