Dara Singh

Dara Singh (19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian wrestler-turned-actor. He started acting in 1952 and was the first sportsman to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha (upper house) of India. He worked as Hindi and Punjabi film producer, director and writer, and he acted in films and television.

Early life

Dara Singh was born on 19 November in 1928 in the village of Dharmuchak, which was then a part of British Punjab and is in Amritsar district.

Career

Wrestling

As an adult he was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall, weighed 127 kilograms (280 lb) and had a chest measurement of 53 inches (130 cm). Due to his physique, he was encouraged to take up Pehlwani, an Indian style of wrestling. He wrestled frequently in haats and melas (fairs and carnivals). His last tournament, where he announced his retirement, was held in Delhi in 1983, inaugurated by Rajiv Gandhi and the winning trophy was presented by Giani Zail Singh. In 1996 he was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

Dara Singh (Bajrang Dal)

Dara Singh (né Ravinder Kumar Pal; born 2 October 1962) is a Bajrang Dal member who was convicted for leading the religious mob that 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 the Kendujhar district of the Indian state of Orissa, about 400 kilometres (250 mi) from Bhubaneswar, when the mob 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.