THE man who led a group of people to kill Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons escaped death sentence.
Singh and Mahendra Hembrom were found guilty of burning to death Staines and his sons, who were sleeping inside a van outside a church, at Manoharpur village in Koenjhar district of Orissa on January 22, 1999.
The bench had on December 15 last year reserved its judgment after hearing at length the arguments of CBI’s counsel and Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha and counsel for the convicts.
Senior counsel K T S Tulsi and Ratnakar Dash, besides counsel Sibo Shankara Mishra, appeared for the 12 convicts.
Appearing for CBI, Tankha had told the bench that Dara Singh deserves death sentence as the murders were committed in a most ‘diabolic and dastardly manner’ which warranted exemplary punishment.
Dara had filed an appeal challenging his conviction and the life sentence awarded to him. The appeals were admitted by the apex court in October 2005.
On May 19, 2005, the Orissa High Court had commuted
to life imprisonment the death penalty imposed by the sessions court on Dara Singh for the murder of Staines and his two minor sons — Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6.
Though Singh and Hembram was convicted in the case, the High Court had acquitted 11 others who were awarded life terms by the trial court in the case. The trial court in Khurda had in September 2003 convicted all the 13 accused. While Dara Singh was awarded death sentence, others were given life imprisonment.
