Hyderabad, April 17 -- After spending 25 years in jail, Mahendra Hembram, the convict in the cold-blooded murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons, was released on Wednesday, April 16, and welcomed with garlands by his supporters chanting 'Jai Shri Ram.'

Staines and his two young sons - ten-year-old Timothy and six-year-old Philip - were burnt alive in their jeep in Odisha's Manoharpur village, Keonjhar district, on the night of January 21, 1999. The attack was carried out by a Hindutva group led by Hembram and the main accused Dara Singh, who accused Staines of religious conversion.

Singh is currently serving a life imprisonment.

Hembram, who was 25-year-old at the time of the murder, was arrested on Decem...