Dara Singh (Hindu Nationalist)

Dara Singh (Hindu Nationalist)

Dara Singh (né Ravinder Kumar Pal; born 2 October 1962) is a Bajrang Dal member who was convicted for leading the religious mob who murdered Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6) on 22 January 1999. The Staines were sleeping in their station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district (about 400 km from Bhubaneswar), India when the frustrated people attacked and set the vehicle on fire, prevented even the children from escaping and murdered all three.

Singh was earlier involved in the cow protection movement of the Bajrang Dal and had earlier targeted Muslim cattle traders. The Wadhwa Commission stated that the Bajrang Dal was not involved in the murder of Staines, justifying its non-examination of the role of the Bajrang Dal on the grounds that the Dal was a peaceful and legal organisation.

Singh was also charged in the killing of Muslim trader Shaikh Rehman at Padibeda village in Karanjia sub-division of Mayurbhanj district. and in the murder of a Christian cleric, Arul Das, in Jamboni village in the same district. Das was killed by an arrow as he was escaping after his church was set on fire. Singh is widely perceived by Hindutva activists to be the Sangh Parivar's most lethal and violent figures and lauded by them as the Hindu Dharma Rakshak (Defender of the Hindu faith).