Five masked men stabbed a 50-year-old pastor to death in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. While police are blaming it on extreme communists, Christians suspect he was murdered by Hindu nationalists, according to reports.
Five masked men stabbed a 50-year-old pastor to death in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. While police are blaming it on extreme communists, Christians suspect he was murdered by Hindu nationalists, according to reports.
The unidentified men broke into the house of Pastor Yallam Shankar, dragged him out and stabbed him to death in Bijapur district’s Angampalli village, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported Saturday, adding that the pastor is survived by his wife, two sons and grandchildren.
India’s PTI news agency suggested that Maoists, or extreme communists, killed him on suspicion that he was a police informer.
“As per preliminary information, a group of suspected armed Naxals entered the house of local pastor Yallam Shankar, and dragged him out. They attacked him with sharp-edged weapons, killing him on the spot,” an official was quoted as saying.
The official added that a Maoist group left a handwritten note to claim responsibility for the murder.
However, a local group called Progressive Christian Alliance of Chhattisgarh, said in a statement that Christians in Angampalli village had received death threats by Hindu nationalist groups.
“As per preliminary information, a group of suspected armed Naxals entered the house of local pastor Yallam Shankar, and dragged him out. They attacked him with sharp-edged weapons, killing him on the spot,” an official was quoted as saying.
“The Christians in this area have been facing intense opposition from the radical Hindu nationalists,” a local Christian was quoted as saying. “Several times Pastor Shankar defended Christians from radical Hindu nationalists, and that could be the reason for this extreme form of persecution of killing.”
Local Christians also said that two days before the murder, radical Hindu nationalists had threatened the pastor, saying they would kill him if he continued to preach.
