Dara Singh, who was sentenced to life for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, challenged his conviction in the Supreme Court on 16 August 2005.

Dara Singh, whose death penalty was commuted into life imprisonment by the Orissa High Court, contended that his conviction was merely upheld on the basis of presumption of his presence at the site of incident as the mob was shouting slogans in his name.

"The conviction of Dara is solely on the basis of mere presumption, which is contrary to the principles of criminal justice and devoid of law," the petition filed by his counsel Sibo Sankar Mishra said.

The High Court had set aside on 19 May 2005 the death sentence of Rabindra Pal Singh alias Dara Singh for the murder of Staines and his two minor sons -- Philip (10) and Timothy (6) -- but upheld life imprisonment to him for being part of an unlawful assembly that burnt them alive.

Along with Dara Singh, another person Mahendra Hembram was sentenced to life as he had confessed his guilt in the court. However the High Court had acquitted 11 others who were awarded life terms by the trial court.

The High Court had held that there was absolutely no evidence on record that due to individual act of Dara Singh alone the three persons or any of them died, and had quashed the capital punishment to him.