The Supreme Court would pronounce its verdict on Friday on CBI’s plea for awarding death sentence to Dara Singh, main accused in the killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in Orissa’s Koenjhar district in January 1999. A bench of justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan had on Decembber 15, 2010, reserved its judgement after hearing at length the arguments of CBI’s counsel and Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha and counsel for the convicts. 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. Along with Dara, another person Mahendra Hembram was convicted in the case. However, the High Court had acquitted 11 others who were awarded life terms by the trial court in the case. Dara 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 trial court in Khurda had in September 2003 convicted all the 13 accused.