A community on edge: Politics and peril of Dara Singh’s possible release

Samson Marandi lives in fear these days.

The Odisha government on September 17 informed the Supreme Court at a hearing that it is against the release of Dara Singh for now. Yet, Marandi fears it is only a matter of time before the main accused in the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, Phillip and Timothy, is released from jail.

And, he dreads the Dara Singh he walks out.

“We have been living in peace with our Hindu neighbours all these years. But, if and when Dara is released from jail, this harmony is certain to be under threat,” Marandi, from Manoharpur village in Odisha’s Keonjhar district, told The Federal.

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“We are already hearing that his close associate Mahendra Hembram is looking for a house in the village for Dara to stay as and when he is released from jail. While he was out on parole a couple of years ago, Mahendra had written some provocative slogans on the walls of some villagers. He was sent back to jail after we lodged a complaint against him at the local police station,” said the man who witnessed the murder of Staines and his two sons.

Same sentence, different destinies

Ironically, Mahendra, who was sentenced to life imprisonment along with Dara, was released from Keonjhar jail on April 16, 2025, on grounds of “good behaviour” after serving 25 years in prison. His supporters garlanded him and raised slogans of “Jai Shree Ram” after he walked out of jail.

Curiously, the same State Sentence Review Board (SSRB) that had recommended Hembram’s release last year, declined to extend the favour to Dara on the grounds that it could lead to communal tensions in Manoharpur and nearby areas.

Mohan Charan Majhi had sat on a dharna in front of Keonjhar jail demanding the release of Dara Singh in 2021, when he was in the Opposition. But he did a complete volte face after becoming the chief minister and is now opposing Dara’s release. Many people who supported him in the elections have now turned against him after his about turn: Ranjan Kumar Sahoo, Dara Sena member

In an affidavit filed at the last hearing on Dara’s plea for premature release from jail on September 17, the counsel for the state government had informed the court that the decision to reject Dara’s plea was taken at a meeting of the SSRB on August 31. The Board, the counsel said, had taken into consideration a communique sent by the Keonjhar district jail authorities in which it had informed that about 200–250 members of the Dara Sena had assembled in front of the jail on August 15, 2026 and raised communal and provocative slogans.

The apex court has asked the counsel for Dara to file an amended plea for remission of his client’s sentence in the light of the state government’s rejection of his earlier petition filed in July, 2024.

What happened on that terrible night?

Late on the chilly night of January 22, 1999, Dara Singh alias Rabindra Kumar Pal led a mob that swooped down on a makeshift church in Manoharpur village and set fire to a station wagon in which Staines was asleep with his two sons, killing all three of them.

The state police initially arrested 51 people, including Dara, in connection with the case. Of them, 37 were released by the designated CBI court at the trial stage for lack of evidence. Of the remaining 14 who were sentenced, Dara and Hembram were awarded the death sentence by the CBI court.

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Eleven others convicted by the same court were later released by the Orissa High Court. Chenchu Hansda, who was a minor at the time of the incident, was released in 2008 following a plea filed in the High Court on his behalf, while the death sentence of Dara and Mahendra was commuted to life imprisonment by the High Court in 2005, a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011. Another accused, Buddhadeb Naik, who was apprehended by police in 2019 after remaining in hiding for 20 years, was acquitted by the CBI court on October 8, 2026 for lack of conclusive evidence against him.

Mohan Charan Majhi’s volte face

While the members of the Christian community are keeping their fingers crossed, right-wing groups in general and members of the Dara Sena, which carried out the attack on Staines, are angry over the delay in his release.

With examples of how the killers of Bilkis Bano were lionized after their premature release, the possibility of a communal flare-up cannot be completely ruled out: Subhankar Ghosh, eyewitness who looks after the affairs of Baripada church

“Mohan Charan Majhi had sat on a dharna in front of Keonjhar jail demanding the release of Dara Singh in 2021 when he was in the Opposition. But he did a complete volte face after becoming the chief minister and is now opposing Dara’s release. Many people who supported him in the elections have now turned against him after his about turn. But we are confident that Dara will be released since he has already spent 26 years in prison,” said Ranjan Kumar Sahoo, a leading member of the Dara Sena.

Dipu Das, a co-accused in the Staines murder case who was acquitted by the High Court for lack of evidence, termed the state government’s stance a “monumental blunder”. “I recently met Dara in jail while I was there in connection with a case and talked to him at length. He is a changed man now and has vowed to work for society when he is released. He should be released immediately,” he told The Federal.

While neither Sahoo nor Das said anything that could be construed as a plan to revive their anti-Christian campaign, their admiration for the convicted killer seems to portend ominous times ahead.

Christians bank on administration

Interestingly, the secretary of the Manoharpur church, Surendra Hansda, is not too perturbed by the prospect of Dara’s release. He pointed out that Chenchu Hansda has been living in the village without a problem. But it is clear that fear lurks somewhere inside him as he says, “You never know. Dara’s old associates are still out there and his release could embolden them. But we are banking on the administration to ensure peace and harmony in the area.”

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However, Subhankar Ghosh, the closest associate of Staines since the 1970s and the man who witnessed the gruesome incident through a window at the church, is more sceptical. It’s been more than 27 years but he still hates talking about that dreadful night.

Ghosh, who still looks after the affairs of the church in Baripada, the headquarters of the neighbouring Mayurbhanj district, where Staines worked before his death, told The Federal, “Honestly, I don’t really know whether the communal temperature will rise if Dara is released. But despite the regret he has expressed in his plea for early release, he doesn’t seem to have undergone a change of heart. And with examples of how the killers of Bilkis Bano were lionized after their premature release, the possibility of a communal flare-up cannot be completely ruled out.”

The attacks on churches have certainly increased since the BJP came to power in 2024. Recently, BL Santosh, the party’s national general secretary, visited Odisha. During an interaction with BJP cadres, he reportedly called for a ‘church-free Odisha’: Jagat Ranjan Santra, Bhubaneswar-based church leader

“It is for the state government and the district administration to ensure that nothing of the sort happens,” he added.

Bigger concern: Growing attacks on Christians and churches

Bhubaneswar-based church leader Dr Jagat Ranjan Santra was more forthright and openly admitted that he fears a rise in communal heat if Dara is released.

“The state government opposed Dara’s release not out of concern for the safety and security of Christians but because of cynical political calculations. It is apprehensive that his release at this stage, which is certain to exacerbate tensions between Christians and Hindus, could cost it politically,” said Santra, who was a professor at the Union Biblical Seminary at Pune, which trains people in Christian theology.

More than Dara’s probable release, however, Santra is concerned about the growing number of attacks on Christians and churches in the state.

“The attacks on churches have certainly increased since the BJP came to power in 2024. Recently, BL Santosh, the party’s national general secretary, visited Odisha. During an interaction with BJP cadres, he reportedly called for a ‘church-free Odisha’. What does it mean? How can Christians feel safe when a prominent leader of the ruling party says something like this? Attacks on churches and Christians have become almost a daily affair in the state,” he told The Federal.

Hate crimes and apathetic police

If the series of attacks on Christians and churches in the past one year or so are anything to go by, Santra’s apprehensions aren’t entirely misplaced. On January 6, a group allegedly belonging to a right-wing outfit dragged pastor Bipin Bihari Naik while he was leading a prayer meeting in Parajanga village in Dhenkanal district, assaulted him, garlanded him with slippers, and paraded him through the village and forced to bow before a Hanuman temple.

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The local police initially dragged its feet before arresting nine persons in the case a fortnight after the incident. The delayed action came only after the victim’s wife met the superintendent of police to lodge a complaint and there was a national outcry, with Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma taking up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress general secretary KC Venugopal condemning the incident.

Goons on a free run

Undeterred by the furore over the Parajanga incident, however, a group of miscreants disrupted a prayer service and warned the 30-odd families in Kapena village in the southern district of Nabarangur district to renounce their faith just days later, on January 25. Members of the community alleged that the miscreants used loudspeakers to issue threats that the church would be demolished and Christian families expelled from the village if they continued with their religious practices.

What is more worrying is the fact that the attacks on churches, which had mostly been confined to rural areas, have now reached the state capital: A person associated with the Union Church in Bhubaneswar

The church had until then been in existence—and that too next to a sacred grove of the local tribals—without any problem between the two communities. The fact that tensions erupted only now corroborates the point made by Santra about an increase in attacks since the BJP came to power in the state. Similar attacks on churches and assault of Christians have been reported in several districts, including Rayagada, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jharsuguda and Bolangir districts.

From villages to cities

“What is more worrying is the fact that the attacks on churches, which had mostly been confined to rural areas, have now reached the state capital. A few days ago, a church in Raghunathpur area in Bhubaneswar that used to run in someone’s house was vandalized and the house owner beaten black and blue. He was so terrified by the incident that he left the city for good,” said a person associated with the Union Church in Bhubaneswar who did not want to be named.

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“In another incident, members of a right-wing group barged into a hotel where a group of Christians was having a birthday party and ransacked the whole place. Such incidents in the state capital have caused consternation among the Christian community,” the person went on.

With the police reluctant to act tough against the right-wing goons going on a rampage, Christians in the state are getting increasingly worried over their safety and security. The Kandhamal anti-Christian riots have been a blot in the history of the otherwise peaceful and tolerant state. But if these elements are not dealt with firmly and given a free run, another Kandhamal-like flare-up cannot be ruled out.