A Bench comprising justices P Sathasivam and H L Dattu said it cannot grant custodial parole to Ravindra Pal Singh alias Dara Singh to travel from Orissa to Allahabad for immersing the ashes of his father, who had died in 2003.

The Bench did not consider the submission of Dara's counsel Sibu Shankar Mishra that the convict was not even allowed permission to perform the last rites of his father.

He submitted that it is the desire of Dara's 77-year-old mother that the ashes of his father be immersed in the holy Ganga.

The court dismissed the petition saying that it would expeditiously hear his appeal against the conviction and life sentence in January next year.

Dara Singh and Mahendra Hembrom were found guilty for burning to death Staines and his sons Philip and Timothy inside a van while sleeping outside a church at Manoharpur village in Koenjhar district of Orissa on January 22, 1999.

The trial court in Khurda in September 2003 had convicted all the 14 accused. While Dara Singh and Hembrom were awarded death sentence, others were given life imprisonment.