Overview
- The State Sentence Review Board decided at a special sitting on August 31 that it will not recommend Ravindra Kumar Pal, known as Dara Singh, for premature release, a decision reported by multiple outlets on Tuesday.
- The board based its refusal on law‑and‑order concerns, citing a Kendujhar district report that about 200–250 people linked to a group called Dara Sena gathered outside the district jail on August 15 and allegedly raised provocative slogans.
- Singh has spent more than 26 years in prison and became eligible under Odisha’s 2022 remission rules after serving 25 years, a point he raised before the Supreme Court in 2024.
- Despite earlier recommendations from the prison directorate and Kendujhar authorities and backing from Auraiya district officials, the board stressed the district report was inconclusive on safe release and noted earlier rejections of his pleas in 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023.
- The board’s formal rejection sets the stage for the Supreme Court to take up the matter on September 17 and could shape local public‑order planning and political mobilization around the case, with the April 2025 early release of co‑convict Mahendra Hembram cited as a contrasting outcome.