Mahendra Hembram walks out of prison

Mahendra Hembram, one of the convicts in the 1999 high-profile triple murder case of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, was released from Keonjhar jail after 25 years Wednesday.

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Hembram, now 50, was released from the prison on grounds of good behaviour during his incarceration.

“Hembram has been released following a decision by the State Sentence Review Board. The prison directorate informed about it in a letter Tuesday. He has been released after 25 years because of good behaviour in accordance with the rules,” said Jailor Manaswini Naik.

Jail authorities gave Hembram a cordial farewell, garlanding him as a mark of recognition for his good conduct during his prison term.

‘An official said Hembram was handed over a bank passbook, where his earnings from prison labour has been deposited.

“I spent 25 years in jail after being falsely implicated in an incident related to religious conversion. Today, I have been released,” Hembram told reporters outside the jail.

Hembram and Dara Singh, alias Rabindra Pal Singh, were convicted of the brutal murders of Staines and his sons — Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, — who were burned alive by a mob allegedly led by Singh on the night of January 21, 1999.